Day Two of Sheer Relaxation

Okay, first of all, let me just say that it is SO GOOD that I don't have cable.  The Food Network is like an evil snake.  I'm not even a foodie - most of the stuff they cook sounds AWFUL but I find the cooking and the competitions FASCINATING - like a snake...I did do other stuff while I was here but it just cemented my resolve to stay away from having stuff on television that I actually like.

Went swimming and hung out on the deck, took a nap, read. RELAXED.  Vacation is good.

The view from the deck

View from the deck straight out in front

I love watching birds bathe - too funny

Vacation accoutrements - Vogue was for the Emma Stone article and some art journaling (which I did not do). I also have my script, "A Discovery of Witches", my Kindle, my iPod (the new Carrie Underwood album is GOOD), and my joy pen.  I should have worked on the script more. I didn't read the book - I read in my Kindle this time. I'm about 1/3 of the way through "Tiger's Curse" that was written by a fellow interpreter in Oregon, Colleen Houck.

BookFest 18 Complete

BookFest 18 was a raging success yesterday, as they usually are.  We met after 1pm (I was late) and went to Powell's for our annual book buying.  It was MUGGY - not hot- but the air was heavy, especially for Oregon. We usually don't have to really deal with too much humidity.  We found book carts IMMEDIATELY upon entering the story. We both thought that they must have purchased more of the magic carts - we each had one and I had several sightings of other carts around the store, which is unusual. Sometimes, we never even SEE one, much less get one for each of us. Let me tell you, it is so much easier to lug around a giant pile of books in a wheeled cart than in a plastic basket hanging from your arm.  We were probably there for about 3 hours and then went to Hunan for Chinese and after-buying comedown.

After Hunan, we went to Kevin's house and did book reveals.  That is one of the most fun parts of the day, but it also eases us into the exhaustion phase. You wouldn't think that book buying was so tiring, but there is so much anticipation.  We both got some surprises - I really broke out of the mold this year and bought some unlikely books given my usual preferences.

One thing I did this year that I thought was fun and interesting - I solicited recommendations from folks on Facebook - books that rocked their world.  I only got one of the recommendations, but the others will be on my list.  I looked for a bunch of them but some weren't there or the copies weren't good or I already had a copy.  I'm going to be reading several of them in the coming months, though.  I think it definitely gives you insight to read what moves people.

Here's my list for 2012 BookFest:

Wallflower in Bloom – Claire Cook

The Uncoupling – Meg Wolitzer

Tiger’s Curse – Colleen Houck

Tiger’s Quest – Colleen Houck

The New Yorkers – Cathleen Schine

The Healing: A Novel – Jonathan Odell

Habibi – Craig Thompson

Girlchild: A Novel – Tupelo, Hassman

From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant – Alex Gilvarry

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

Dreams of Rivers and Seas – Tim Parks

The book of Jonas – Stephen Dau

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – Ben Fountain

We have plans for years 19 and 20, so I can't wait. Not to be rudely self-congratulatory, but we are kind of brilliant...we thought of this idea together and committed to it and it is still FUN and going strong 18 years later. I think that is the best part of this whole thing - both of us still enjoy the process so much.  Thanks, Kevin, for another great year!

It's Like Christmas in the Mail

This past weekend, I got a bunch of art supplies in the mail, I ordered a necklace from Etsy and I went onto Amazon.com and bought some books and the DVD of the 25th Anniversary of the stage production of "Phantom of the Opera".  It isn't my favorite show, but I like to support musical theatre offerings that are put onto DVD.

The package I got today was a stack of books. I'm actually kind of excited to read them even though they are certainly not fiction or "fun" books.  I've been struggling with doing art and lots of other things and I know that one of the barriers is my own perfectionism that really stops me in my tracks.  After seeing Brene Brown's TED talk on Vulnerability:



Or this one:



and after taking some of my classes this year and after signing up for "30 Days of Courage" in March, I felt something moving in me to explore perfectionism, vulnerability.  The books I ordered are "The Gifts of Imperfection" and "I Thought it Was Just Me: Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy and Power" by Brene Brown and "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie.  It feels scary to open up some of those doors, but I feel like I need to do that.  And it is kind of exciting at the same time - like I'm finding pieces of myself and putting them back in the right place.

I will try to post some pictures of the art supplies this weekend. We'll see if I can get the pictures to work for me.

Harry Potter Revisit

I have been going through the Harry Potter movies over the last few weeks, watching one on Sundays until I catch up to the final movie of the series.  I have only seen "Deathly Hallows part II" one time, so I am anxious to see it again.

I saw an interesting debate come up on a friend's Facebook page  - the original post didn't have anything to do with Harry Potter, but a conversation came up where a person expressed the opinion that Harry Potter was demonic and glorified witchcraft.  As I was watching the movie today ("HP and the Half-Blood Prince"), I was thinking about the conversation. It was interesting as some folks felt that "Twilight" was not demonic (because vampires aren't real, because the "good" team in the series did not consume human blood, etc.), but HP displayed witchcraft/magic in a positive light.

As I was watching the part of the movie where Harry and Dumbledore are getting the Horcrux from the pedestal, I was reminded of "The Lord of the Rings". I'm not sure why, exactly, but it made me wonder how those folks feel about that series. It includes magic and good and evil.  Or the Narnia series...that has magic in it. Or "The Wizard of Oz".  Obviously, I haven't had a conversation with the people who were commending, so I'm sure there is much more we could discuss about their perspectives, the reasons they hold the beliefs they do and where the boundary is between acceptable portrayals of fictional magic versus what might be considered unacceptable and how those are determined.  I'm not interested in being argumentative, but I do find it fascinating think about.

There isn't a right or wrong in the situation - just really different views about the world and what is good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable, postive/negative influences, etc.

What was the last book you read?

Well, there is the problem. Honestly, the last book I read from cover to cover wasn't even memorable enough to write down. My problem is that I haven't been reading that much and I really want to. I haven't made the time - spend too much of my spare time in front of the computer.  I'm working on that.

I'm in the middle of re-reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", started "The Help" and I have a couple of books I'm reading in my Kindle although I can't bring them to mind because you don't see the cover when you are in the middle of the book...weird. I just realized that is another DING on eReaders.  One of the ways we reinforce our thoughts and memory of the book we are reading is by seeing the cover and the colors of the book every time we open or close it. When it is already on the page when you turn the eReader on, you don't have the same relationship with all the visual things that probably made you pick up the book in the first place.

I need about 4 more hours a day. NOT to be used for work or anything electronic and in the shape of a box.

Favorite Book Store

"Talk about your favorite bookstore."

Um...hi. I live in Portland. The only REAL bookstore in Portland (or anywhere for that matter) at this point is Powell's City of Books, of course. I could live at Powell's if I didn't have to work. :)   I don't go to Powell's as often as I used to, but I go on my annual BookFest book buying spree with Kevin.

I love Barnes and Noble and Borders (sad to see them go - great magazine section and I loved getting my theatre CDs from them) for new, non-fiction and for periodicals, for "other" stuff - miscellaneous stuff like calendars and pens and weird cards. But for serious book-buying, it has to be Powell's.

The firs time I went to Powell's was in the eighth grade on a field trip with the "Book Club".  We were as geeky as it sounds, but we had a great time. We rode the bus downtown on a Saturday and went to Cameron's books on 2nd and to Powell's where I discovered the beauty of used books.

If you have never been to Powell's and you visit the city, make sure you save a day for it. An entire city block filled with books! Imagine that!  It is fantastic!

Books: Own or Borrow?

Do you prefer to own books or borrow them from a friend or the library?

This is the eternal book question really. When it comes down to it, you can add eBook to the mix. The trouble with Kindle (for me) is a similar problem to borrowing books from people or the library.  To me, books carry energy. There is something about picking up a beloved book you have read over and over again. There is an energy, a touch memory - something visceral, something I can feel.  For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to keep THE book that I read.

When I was in middle school, I read my way through the library. Eventually, they gave me "preview books" and I wrote recommendations for the librarian about purchasing the books I was reading.  My biggest problem was that any time I read a book or even borrowed an album (vinyl) (cough* "Annie" Soundtrack), I wanted to check it out forever, but at the same time, it limited how many books I could check out next.

When I checked out "The NeverEnding Story" from the public library, the book was printed in red and green ink, depending on which part of the story was being told. It took everything I had to take that book back and I'm pretty sure that was after I had it checked out 2-3 times.  I finally found a copy of the book with the ink alternation, but it didn't have the energy of discover in it from my reading of it.  That was kind of when I realized that I really liked having the book I read.

Along came Kindle. I can honestly say that I don't think I have completed a single book in the Kindle and I have had mine a while. Part of the reason is that I think I buy a different type of book on Kindle than I buy regularly - I have a couple of non-fiction, a couple of books on Deafness, etc.  There's just something weird about it. I like that I can change the font. I like that I can read whjle I'm eating lunch. I don't like the electronic part of it - no pages, no texture, no cover to look at. No page numbers.  I'm sure it is wave of the future, but I sure do love me some actual books.

August Nablopomo Theme: Fiction

What is your favorite book?

This is a hard question...I have a list...I'm sure there are more. Each one is a favorite for different reasons. But there is no way for me to choose one book...

1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. Roots
3. Night
4. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe
5. Hearts in Atlantis
6. And the Band Played On (Hard to call this "favorite" but one of the most important books I've read)
7. The Harry Potter series - all of them
8. The NeverEnding Story
9. Where the Red Fern Grows
10.  Sudie

Hopefully, some art journal photos tomorrow. I have been working in the new book, just no photos yet.

My Kingdom for a Cart

Okay, so, imagine carrying two plastic shopping baskets full of books around a crowded and warm store for five hours. FULL OF BOOKS.  Books are heavy. There's no two ways about it.  Toting them around, setting them down so that you can grab something off the shelf, working your way through the aisles full of jostling, cell-phone-using, gossiping, reading, sitting, standing in clumps people in the heat of the day is not that fun.

A few years ago, Powell's Bookstore invested in some shopping carts that look something like this:

The website says to "enquire" about the product and does not list a price. They can't be THAT expensive, can they? Unless, of course, you have to buy in quantity and pay for the shipping from China. Ha!

This cart has saved my life on more than one occasion.  The first year they had them, there were a bunch and both Kevin and I grabbed one and made short work of the whole endeavor as we didn't have to stop every few minutes to return our arms into the sockets.  The next year, there were only a few, but we still got them. Last year, I got one and Kevin (poor thing) did not. I think Kevin asked about them and the employee said there were only 4 left.

This year, as I was shopping, I spotted one in the early part of BookFest, but I wasn't willing to do more than lurk for a few minutes before giving up the ghost. A couple of hours later, I went back to the location where I have the most luck finding a cart (yeah, I know you thought I was going to tell you where to go, but I'm not) and finally found a cart. It was such a relief to put those baskets in the cart and not have to deal with hands that are sore from holding the hard plastic handles and arms that are sore from carrying what feels like 50+ pounds of books around for several hours.

Once I was pretty close, I realized that I could sit in the coffee room and survey my  book-bounty and Kevin could take the cart around and look at stuff. I think sharing was definitely the way to go. If we find ourselves in a similar situation next year, at least I will know what to do. :)

The beauty of this 17-year tradition is that it is so much fun. We both have these little rituals and traditions that we honor and games we play. We have a certain order we do things in, we have different phases of the day. Today, we laughed so much we both got hoarse by the end of the evening.

All in all, a really spectacular day. The only thing we need to do now is buy carts to hold on standby for next year. :)

I Heart BookFest part II

I'm gearing up for BookFest on Saturday!   I can't wait for our annual book buying extravaganza.

Kevin and I had a conversation about how long we have been doing this. I may get this wrong, but as I recall, last year was year 16.  (In 2008, I had put the wrong year when I was writing about it).  I'm pretty sure that the first actual BookFest was in September of 1995 - I remember because I was starting WOU and I realized it was going to be a long time before I could read books for pleasure.  If that is right, then we are coming up on Year 17!

Whether I'm right or wrong, I still think it is amazing that we have still have the fun tradition annually. It's my favorite holiday of the year.

As usual, I don't really have a plan in mind. I have a few books I'm interested in, but I never walk away with what I expected to.  I know I have some old standby things that I look at, but I definitely think I will have some surprises in my pile of goodies.  Perhaps I will post photos this year!

Can't Get it Out of My Mind

I am reading a book called "The Orange Revolution" for work right now. It is interesting, but that's not what I'm writing about today.  We are on Chapter 3 and in the chapter, they talk about this video with water buffalo and lions and alligators.  It is hard to watch, but I have been thinking about it all day...

Click on the link if you are a "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" kind of person. If you aren't, I wouldn't recommend it.

I don't know why I'm still thinking about it - it was a little bit horrifying but also fascinating. Just the ebb and flow of the natural world, survival, stuff like that.

Happy Homecoming!

I went to work today - I was feeling trepidation because I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel all day, but I decided to go try it out and if I got sick again, I would just leave. I think one of the down sides to working more than 15 or 20 minutes from home is that I get kind of paranoid about being sick at work and trying to get home. One of my worst fears has always been getting a migraine in some faraway place and not being able to get home. It sort of happened to me once, so I know what I'm talking about. A one hour drive turned into about 4 hours of hell.

Anyway, when I got home at 7:00 pm, I found an amazon.com box and inside was a copy of Patti Digh's new book, "What I Wish for You: Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life"!!  For information about her Simple Wisdom book tour, you should check out her blog.  I'm so excited to start reading her book! It was the perfect gift to greet me after a long "I was sick yesterday but I'm going to work anyway" kind of day. (I'm feeling much better, by the way. Glad I went to work.)

Once I have been able to dig into the book, I will do a little review here for you. Also, she will be up in Seattle in May, so I am trying to plan a trip up to the reading/tour stop.  More on that as I know more.

Reading Renaissance Redux

I have been reading about books and thinking about books and moving my books around for the last couple of weeks. I finally started carrying a book around with me again - it's been a long time since I have really done that. I don't read for pleasure much these days which is a shame because I have a million books to read and I LOVE reading.

So, now it is time for my annual attempt to revisit my 30 minutes a day (or more) goal for reading a book for pleasure. I even found a cool little gadget that will help me. During the holidays, I went to Barnes and Noble a number of times and on Christmas Eve, when I was standing half a store away from the register in line, I found a little gadget called, "Mark My Time - The Digital Bookmark".  It is really made for kids to help them know when they have been reading long enough. It also helps track number of pages and some other stuff. I thought it was a cute little thing and bought a couple for the kids in my life and one for myself.

Wish me luck, fellow readers. I have many books to read and I am excited to start them. I'm even going to take a break at work and find a place to read quietly for at least a few minutes a day. (We'll see how long that lasts...)

Reading Check-In

I haven't implemented my reading 30 minutes a day yet. I kind of gave myself a pass for January - I consider this month a non-starter - we are all wrapping up stuff that needs to be finished from last year. So I am looking to do clean-up on a couple of things and then I am hoping to really focus in on some of the things I really want to do this year.

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about last night and wandered over to Nablopomo and they had a prompt I liked. I don't always groove to the prompts they have, but this one seemed appropriate.

What are the next five books you want to read?
1. Creative is a Verb
2. The Mysterious Benedict Society
3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
4. New Fannie Flagg Book (I can't remember the title)
5. ANYTHING!! I need to READ!!

Gift In the Mail

This week has been long and since I was sick in the beginning of the week, all my energy was sapped.

Happily, yesterday, when I got home, there was a package waiting for me.  It was this book accompanied by a little note from the author:

The artwork was submitted to Patti from artists around the world and is lovely. A sweet and wonderful little text for "those days". Nice way to come home on a late Thursday.

Book Fest List

*I typed it up, but I was so tired, I only drafted it last night. Sorry.*

Here are the titles for BookFest 2010 (Year 16):

Four Corners of the Sky
The Imperfectionists
The Writing Circle
Atonement
The Perfect Reader
The Rehearsal
Things that Keep Us Here
A Thousand Cuts
The Cookbook Collector
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Beyond the Miracle Worker: The Story of Anne Sullivan Macy
The Last Time I Saw You
Stormchasers
The Secret Daughter
Mathilda Savitch
Waiting for Rescue
The Survival in Auschwitz
The Blue Notebook
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Chef

I pick books for a lot of different reasons. This year, I ended up with a lot of "Debut" fiction which can be a good thing (Think "To Kill a Mockingbird") and a bad thing (Think "To Kill a Mockingbird"). I'm excited to get started as I bought some books that challenge my usual choices and some that will be comfortable like an old shoe. Either way, I have books! Yay!

Heroes - June Theme

Well, we all know I like a good theme, especially when things are really busy.  I will be trying my hand at "Heroes" this month for Nablopomo (starting my 8th month).  I will probably intersperse the theme with posts on the move at work, the BookFest 2009 list and other fun little tidbits.

To stay on the topic of books, I want to say that two of my biggest heroes have to be my parents for being readers, for encouraging me to be a reader.  I remember always getting library books and books from the bookmobile and ordering books from those Scholastic Book Club paper order forms.  I remember that there was some kind of quota that had to be filled (a specific number of books or a specific $$ amount) and about 1/2 the time, I could put us over the amount with just my order alone.  I read and read and read and my parents let me.  I'm so lucky.

Some favorites over time:

All the "Little House on the Prairie" series

Judy Blume

Beverly Cleary

"The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe"

"The Secret Garden"

"Charlotte's Web" and "The Trumpet of the Swan"

"Where the Red Fern Grows"

The "Flowers in the Attic" series (when I was a teenager, they were all the rage)

"Helen Keller's Teacher"

"The Outsiders"

"The Velveteen Rabbit"

"Ferdinand the Bull"

"The Snowy Day"

"Horton Hears a Who" and "The Lorax" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and of course, "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Fox in Socks" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish"

I loved "Little Bear" and "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and "Winnie the Pooh".  I loved "Paddington Bear" and "The Boxcar Children", "Mrs. PiggleWiggle" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  I LOVED "James and the Giant Peach", too.

Ahh, probably too many to list...

So, Heroes for June 1, 2009:  My Mom and Dad.  

Jim Dale and Comfort

Lately, the news of the economic crisis, AIG's bonus program, politicians sniping, the flood in Fargo, the "octomom" and all the other crap flying at us every day, has simply become too much for me. I am working on "Wicked" right now, so mostly, I have to listen to that, but I needed a break from that the last couple of days. I don't like to mix music in because it just moves it around in my head...I like to keep it pure. This time, however, I just needed a break.

In desperation last week, I clicked on disc 6 in my car CD player and hoped for the best. The 16th of 17 discs of the last Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" came on. Even if you have not read the book, you can just tell from the fact that it was disc 16 out of 17 that it was a critical point in the book (but I haven't listened to it in more than 8-10 months)...but I listened to the whole thing because Jim Dale's voice, the actor reading the book, is SO SOOTHING. So I promptly went into the house and got the rest of the CDs. I will be loading them onto my iPod sometime soon so that I can have an alternative to music sometimes.

What a great escape! The story is engrossing and interesting enough to keep my attention, I haven't read it in a long time so there are still some surprises I have forgotten and when I get to work or home from work, I am much more relaxed than I would have been.

I highly recommend all the Harry Potter books on tape as Jim Dale reads them all. He is GREAT!! (He was the voice of the narrator on "Pushing Daisies" on ABC.)

Reading: Confucius

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” ~Confucius  

Today did not prove to be that much better than yesterday except for my sincere appreciation for the people around me who, rather than letting me exhaust myself dog-paddling for shore, gently pulled me into their boat and rowed me to shore.   I had to just surrender into feeling overwhelmed and less-than-competent and just appreciate the kindness of others.  

As a result of said day, I choose to check in on my reading progress, which I do keep on the sidebar, but don't change regularly.  I have only missed 3 days of reading since my start in January.  I started out strongly, reading all four of the "Twilight" series books in January.    Then, the search for a book that would hold my interest...I think I have to rebuild my "reading patience" - knowing that a book doesn't necessarily grab you right away, but that I have to give it a chance.  I am a "slow to warm" person in real life and I think I am that way with characters in books - I don't want to be hurt by real people or fictional characters. Ha.  

I am nearing the end of "Walking in Circles Before Lying Down" which has been funnier than I thought.  I am also in the middle of Maya Angelou's "Letter to My Daughter", a book of beautiful essays.  You can't read them all at once - they have to be savored.  So, although I am behind in where I would like to be book-count wise and page-count wise, I am happy to be reading daily and enjoying the journey.  Book recommendations welcome here...                        

Structure vs. Free-Flow

So, like 4 days without a structure and I fall apart here. I was chomping at the bit to be done with last month, but I really liked having a bunch of possibilities to choose from rather than staring at the white computer screen...maybe I should put a bunch of topics in a hat and pull one out every day. :)

I knew when I saw that February's theme was WANT that I was not going to be writing much (if at all) about that. It isn't a topic that resonates with me, so I am searching for something else to write about.

A few notables:

I have only missed two days of reading since the beginning of the year - one was on January 1 and one was this past Tuesday - I was exhausted from my day with my presentation and driving for so many hours that I just fell asleep.

I am watching Buffy thru in order again (I can't even count how many times it has been). Am on Season 2 - just past Oz becoming a werewolf. Actually, I have been trying to watch that episode for 3 days now. Last night, I put it on and fell asleep. Then, I woke up at like 3:00am and I couldn't go back to sleep. I decided I would put the episode back on and I didn't even see a MINUTE of it before I was snoozing again. Weird that a vampire show would be comforting enough to let me go to sleep.

Speaking of vampires and werewolves, I have completed the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. After a rough first start, I thoroughly enjoyed the books. I saw the movie first with a friend and I thought it was interesting enough to make me want to read the books...it was a little too painful in that awkward, teenagers mooning at each other, way...a few too many longing glances. When I started "Twilight", I found the beginning a little slow, but I think I was impacted by the fact that I had seen the movie, so I was waiting for Bella and Edward to meet. At work, all the women are reading them and have divided firmly into two teams: Team Edward and Team Jacob. I thought I was on Team Jacob, but after completing the final novel, I realized I like both of them and I think the series had it exactly right. (No spoilers here). If you like a good romance, a good vampire story or a combination of the two, you should read these books.

Now that I am done with those books, I am looking at a couple of others that I hope will hold my interest. Tonight I have picked up, "Letter to My Daughter" by Maya Angelou. My mother gave this book to me for Christmas, so I want to dig into that. The other book I'm intrigued by is "Hannah's Dream", which I have added to my list of books I am reading in my sidebar on the blog. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Last, but not least, I am hoping to see a movie or two this weekend. I want to see "The Reader" so badly but it is only playing in about 4 theatres around town...I also want to see "Taken" because I LOVE Liam Neeson. I haven't seen "Benjamin Button" but something holds me back on that one...I'm not sure what it is. Another on the list is "Slumdog Millionaire". Since I have such a love affair with India and want to learn more about Indian culture, etc., I think this is definitely a must-see.