Damn Extreme Makeover!

I thought I banned myself from watching this show. But sure enough, another Sunday rolls around and I'm sitting in bed in front of the TV watching damn Extreme Makeover Home Edition. This week, the family is a dad and three girls. The mom died a few months ago. Bam, tears.

Damn TV.

Onion Tears

When you're cutting onions, your eyes water. That's just the way it is. But somehow, those first tears break some invisible barrier that has been holding back all your real tears, and out they come one by one.

Things that make me cry:

1. Ice skating.
2. Animals in the shelter.
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition (I must remember NEVER to watch this).
4. Old AT&T commercials (the one where the mom takes the daughter to college and gives her a phone card and the daughter calls the mom on her cell phone before she gets home and says "Just checking").

Please use in a sentence:

Today's word of the day:

deliquesce: to melt away or become liquid.

What a great word!

Gardenia Joy's Handy Woman Service

I'm a home owner! I'm busy with about two hundred improvement projects. See how I'm doing in my DIY blog: DIY or Die Trying.

Getting to know all about me.

What is your occupation?
Multimedia Project Manager

What color are your underwear?
Today they're pink with black trim.

What are you listening to right now?
Oprah--playing hooky from work.

What was the last thing you ate?
Trader Joe's Tuna filets in Red Penang curry sauce

Do you wish on stars?
Daily. Well, whenever I see the stars in NYC.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
More to the point, what is WRONG with those people at Crayola? They didn't pick ANY of my submissions for the "Name the Colors" contest a few years ago.

How is the weather right now?
Hotter than Hades.

Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My realtor.

Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yeah, Jodie's pretty okay. ;-)

If you could be anywhere right now where would you be?
Honestly, right now I'm happy sitting on my couch. But lying on the deck of my 200 foot yacht somewhere off the coast of Italy, being oiled down by a man named Sven and sipping a cool beverage wouldn't be too bad either.

Two 70's bands you would die to see?
Um, I am really bad at this stuff. I don't know any names of bands. And I don't really know decades of music either. So ...

Ever skinny dipped?
Not only have I skinny dipped, I'm a founding member of the OBWTDP.

Have you ever smoked?
Nope.

Do you wear contacts or glasses?
I've worn glasses since I was five, but I finally got contacts when I was 17 and now I only wear glasses at night.

Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, or Jessica Alba?
Angelina

Brad Pitt, George Clooney or Johnny Knoxville?
George. I have an autographed picture from him.

Favorite show(s)?
Desperate Housewives, Law & Order, Monk

What was the last movie you watched?
Actually, I'm not sure--I hardly ever watch movies. I was talking about The Princess Bride yesterday, though. That's one of my all time faves. I keep track of some of the movies I've watched on my movie blog.

Favorite day of the year?
My birthday, of course! August 3!

What do you do when you are sad?
I sit around and think about how sad I am, and then usually call somebody to try to get myself out of my funk.

What was your favorite toy as a child?
I mostly played with boxes and sticks. I had a little bunny named Lavendar that was a favorite.

What is your favorite thing to do?
Either salsa dancing or reading.

Morning or late at night?
All good, all the time. I like mornings though.

If there was a song about you what would it be?
There is a song about me, somewhere, half-finished. The chorus goes "How many hearts are breaking tonight? How many loves won't take flight?"

Living arrangements?
Currently with two roommates in a great three bedroom apartment in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. However, I'm in the process of buying a condo in Norwalk, CT, where I will be very happy to live by myself.

When was the last time you cried?
Today.

What is on the floor of your closet?
Laundry basket, canvas bag, gym bag, plastic drawers full of office materials.

Who is the friend you have had the longest?
Misty Timber--we've now been friends for TWENTY years. But Jodie's right--she's my longest friend in terms of regular communication.

What did you do last night?
Had dinner with my parents at my uncle's house in Long Island, then drove back into the city and gave my other uncle a ride back too.

Who inspires you?
Different people for different reasons. I'm especially inspired by true friendship.

What are you afraid of?
That I won't be able to take care of someone who needs me.

Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
Nirvana Vegetable burgers from Trader Joe's. YUM.

Favorite Actor?
I'm totally on the Johnny Depp wagon. I also love Patrick Stewart (O Captain, my Captain).

Favorite Actress?
Uhm. No favorite, I guess.

How many emails did you receive this morning?
27 at work, 5 in Yahoo, and I don't know how many in my personal e-mail because I haven't been able to check it for a week!

How many years at your current job?
Almost one. Hey, that's good for me.

Coffee in the morning?
Yes, when I get to work, we have these machines that make individual cups that aren't half bad.

CTS

CTS is the the code for "offer accepted" on a listing in the Multiple Listing Service. As in "I put in an offer on a condo and my Realtor called me Thursday to tell me that the seller has changed the status on the listing to CTS."

I'm going to be a homeowner!! It makes a great brithday present for myself, doesn't it?

It's a little scary, because the longest I've lived in one place is three and a half years, and that was during college. Buying a home feels so stable. But the good news is that my commute to work will go from about three hours a day to about fifteen minutes a day. You can bet I'm doing the happy dance over that!

Of course, there's still lots of stuff that has to happen before the place is actually MINE. I have to get the inspection, I have to review the condo docs, I have to have my attorney review the contract. Oh, and then I have to get a bank to lend me the money. Details, details.

By lucky happenstance, my parents are here this week (to celebrate my birthday), so they get to see the new place, and my dad can even be there for the inspection, which definitely makes it all a little less scary.

And my lovely brother said that he's getting me a doormat. My choice: Your Home or You're Home. Isn't he sweet?

Marvin the Mole.

I have no idea what made me think of it, but Marvin the Mole just popped into my head. Marvin was the anthropomorphic rodent that my high school chemistry teacher used to help my sophomore chemistry class understand the concept of the mole (6.022 x 10^23 molecules of a substance). It's really not that difficult to understand if you think of it like a dozen. A dozen = twelve, a mole = 6.022 x 10^23 (that's Avogadro's Number by the way). Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I'm actually not sure why Mr. Korin introduced Marvin. But sophomores will be sophomores, and it wasn't too far into stoichiometry that poor Marvin became "Marvin da ho-mo mole." Whenever Korin would start to talk about a mole of this or a mole of that, someone--usually one of the boys on the football team--would squeak "Marvin da ho-mo mole." Poor Korin would flush bright red and try to ignore them. He actually took a LOT of crap from the kids in my class that year and the next year when I took AP chemistry.

A favorite saying in AP was "Bend over, I'll show ya." The class was mixed juniors and seniors, but mostly seniors and boy did they torture Korin. He got them back one day during lab though. One of the usual suspects made the mistake of saying "What's this thermometer for?" and Korin quickly replied "Bend over, I'll show ya."

I suppose that kind of thing wouldn't be tolerated these days. Maybe I should change the names to protect the innocent.

What was I doing while all this was going on? Mostly trying to ignore it. I didn't mind Mr. Korin, and I loved chemistry and I was good at it. I tutored chem in college. One of my drunk tricks is that I can still derive the Henderson-Hasselbach equation.

Hey! After a little Googling, I discovered that Marvin was not the personal invention of my high school chemistry teacher. He even has his own day! (Marvin, that is, not Korin.) Who knew?

And speaking of moles, I love Trader Joe's Avocado's Number guacomole. Get it? Guaco-mole? Avocado's Number? They are so clever!

Connecticut vs. New York City

Yesterday was a perfect city day.

I went shopping in the morning and found two GREAT pairs of summer sandals, one white, and one brown, and both on sale. I wandered throught the Union Square Greenmarket and enjoyed all the vendors, but I didn't buy anything because I was still on a shopping mission and didn't want to lug my veggies around with me. On the way home I called and ordered lunch from my favorite Thai restaurant, Highline. I took lunch home and sat out on the patio to eat, and then came upstairs and took a little catnap. Around 4:30, I went rollerblading with my roommate Joel, down the Hudson River Park Development from Greenwich to the Statue of Liberty and back. Along the way we saw lots of runners, cyclers, bladers, the trapeze school, the skate park, people playing tennis, big ships in the river, Scott Stringer, park patrol yelling at me for being on the upper level, vendors, and couples on a Saturday stroll. When i got home, I grabbed my canvas bag and went to Chelsea Market and loaded up on fresh fruit and veggies at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange. All this at my fingertips with no plan required.

What's going to happen to days like this if I move to Connecticut?

Well, there aren't many Born Again Christians in Trenton, New Jersey

I didn't plan to take the train home, but when I heard that a retaining wall came down on the Henry Hudson Parkway, I figured that traffic would be pretty terrible, so I left my car in Connecticut and jumped on public transportation.

Here are my favorite quotes from the conversation I had with three colleagues:

"I don't think vampires would do very well in space."

Q: "Do you feel like you're chillin' with your harem right now?"
A: "Yeah, my intellectual harem."

"Well, there aren't many Born Again Christians in Trenton, New Jersey."

What a great ride.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

This book was a little strange for me. I liked it, but I sometimes thought the author was taking the easy way out. Some things didn't seem connected, didn't seem relevant . . . seemed like something I could have written myself. I tend to mistrust authors who write things I think I could have written. I worship authors who write things I wish I could have written.

The story is told from the perspective of an autistic boy. Actually he's supposedly writing the story. So the story is in the story. That's a little weird for me too. It is definitely an interesting perspective, and impossible to say if its authentic, but sometimes it really worked for me.

It's amazing though. All it takes to have book is a few threads of plot and a compelling narrator. I think I have it backwards!

Hats off to Rio

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Originally uploaded by gardeniajoy.

Taken at the top of Sugarloaf. Nice view, huh?

Pre-rehearsal

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Originally uploaded by gardeniajoy.

Taking advantage of a chance to sit down ... one of my only chances that day.

Nice one, bro

6 - 40
Originally uploaded by gardeniajoy.

Taking a break

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Originally uploaded by gardeniajoy.

Having danced my behind half off, I took a well deserved rest during the reception.

Going to the beach and they're gonna get married....

I finally updated the website for my brother's wedding.

Unity and Flavia's Wedding in Buzios, Brazil

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Trailer

Someone told me this was a great movie, at least for a movie of which he had no expectations in the first place. I would have to agree.

What was funny for me about this movie is the way I totally accepted the "eraser" technology, even though the rest of the movie wasn't exactly science fiction. Somehow, the premise worked though.

I felt the movie was a little like Vanilla Sky, but unlike Vanilla Sky, this movie didn't leave me annoyed at the ending. I thought Vanilla Sky copped out at the end.

Another person told me that Eternal Sunshine of the Spottless Mind showed that people should get together and enjoy being together even if it might not work out in the end. I'm not sure I took the movie the same way. To me, it's more about whether you're compelled to be with someone or not. If you are, you'll do it, no matter the consequences. And if someone is trying to convince you, you're obviously not compelled. And if you can resist, maybe you should. Save the consequences for when you can't resist.

The Master Butchers Singing Club

First, I have a problem with this title. I think that it is punctuated wrong. Shouldn't it be The Master Butcher's Singing Club? Or, if there is more than one butcher, it should be the The Master Butchers' Singing Club. But I just can't think of any circumstances under which it would be written "The Master Butchers Singing Club." And yet there it is on the front of the book and the top of every page.

I did manage to get beyond the title (isn't there some saying about judging a book by its cover?). I actually really liked the book, although there were some parts that were a little weird for me.

This book is also by Louise Erdrich. I didn't intentionally read two of her books in a row, I just happened to pick this up in the bookstore when I was looking for something to read on my vacation in Brazil. Actually, I picked up the paperback and then found the hardcover for a third of the price. Not that that matters.

The main character in this story is a woman who doesn't know who her mother is, and ends up mothering everyone else. It's a different type of story for Louise Erdrich, although I learned that it's based on the other side of her family. I guess that's where most stories come from . . . from somebody's life.

Olã from Brazil!

I'm in Rio de Janeiro! This is my first time south of the equator, which is pretty cool. As soon as I realized that, I decided that I have to visit every quadrant of the globe. Actually, I can't decide if it's every quadrant or eigth or what . . . maybe I should just make it every continent and call it good. I should post that on 43 things.

In any case, it's been a great trip. I'm here for my brother's wedding, so I'll have lots of photos and stories to tell when I get back.

I also got to spend the day with the sister of a friend of my parents, which was great. More stories to follow.

Hard Work Pays Off

I've just gotten the job offer that I wanted. Hooray! It's exciting to be joining a company that I'm excited about and doing work that challenges me.

I'm a little worried though . . . today someone on my team told me that old joke about heaven and hell. The job applicant dies in the middle of the interview. She goes to heaven, and St. Peter decides to offer a choice between heaven and hell. So the applicant checks out heaven and thinks it's okay. Then she checks out hell where they're having a great party. She chooses hell, but when she goes back it's all fire and brimstone. "What's up?" she asks. "Yesterday you were a freelancer, today you're an employee."

Hmm, I wonder when my start date is.

All kidding aside, I'm really thrilled to be on this path.

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

I am rereading this book by Louise Erdrich. I picked it up a couple of years ago. I've always liked Louise Erdrich because she writes about Native Americans and reservation life, and I grew up on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana.

This story is different from her other stories, or at least different from how I remember them. I would say that in this book, unlike her others, her style is magical realism. I could be wrong in thinking this is the first time she's written in this style--it makes me want to go back and read or reread her other books.

The story is about a priest who goes to the reservation called Little No Horse in 1912 and whose life is shaped by the people he meets as much as he tries to shape their lives and bring them into the Catholic church. We learn early, though, that the priest is actually a woman who came across the "real" priest's body after a flood in which she almost drowned. A vision leads her to assume the priest's identity and she goes to the reservation. Erdrich speaks beautifully and eloquently of the dichotomy the woman feels living as a man and how when she is a priest she is not man or woman, but both and neither at the same time. It's a beautiful and, for me, provoking examination of how our spirits transcend our bodies.

The other story lines in the book are as compelling, stories of the people on the reservation during illness, famine, hardship and joys, births, deaths, marriages and the tragedy of losing the land that is everything to the tribe.

This is a difficult book to read in some ways, but it's beautifully written and has layers and layers of meaning.

My favorite cooking ingredients

olive oil
cayenne pepper
spinach
feta cheese
goat cheese
veggie sausage
sweet potatoes
eggplant
ginger
garlic
onions
walnuts
sun dried tomatoes
basil
coconut milk
curry powder
red peppers
mushrooms

I don't cook that much, but I enjoy it when I do. My best dishes are curries, stir fries, and pizzas.

Matchstick Men

Trailer

I have HBO on Demand, which is about the greatest invention ever. I never, ever rent movies. In fact, I don't even have any kind of video store membership. But once in a while, it's great to sit down to watch something that starts when you want to watch it. Enter HBO on Demand.

I picked Matchstick Men out of the list on HBO and was pleasantly surprised. It was a little slow for me at first, and I'm not the biggest Nick Cage fan, but the story became more interesting, and Cage was very good in this movie. He plays a neurotic con man who finds out that he has a fourteen-year-old daughter. She impacts his life dramatically . . . but not in a sappy way. And watch out for the twist at the end. I love it when movies surprise me.

Definitely worth watching.

Angels and Demons

When I started hearing hype about The Da Vinci Code I figured I should read it, but the women who rode my train said that Angels and Demons was first (and some said it was better), so I decided to read the books in order. It took me about two days to drag myself through the pages of Angels and Demons, one miserable weekend when I was stuck in bed with a bum knee. And to make it worse, I actually purchased this book--though I'm hoping I got it at the O and that it was inexpensive.

If you love Dan Brown and his books, you might want to stop reading now.

I HATED Angels and Demons. I thought the main story, the secret cult stealing secrets from CERN, was okay--hey, I like spy stories as much as the next girl. I thought the subplots (the Vatican intrigue, the romance between . . . I can't even remember the characters' names) were weak and completely predictable. And I thought the writing was at about a sixth grade level. Not at a sixth grader's reading level, though it was probably that too, but like something that would be written by a sixth grader. And not a sixth grader in an advanced creative writing class.

But even worse than all those things, I absolutely HATE when authors of fiction falsely claim that their stories are based on fact. And now that I've heard more and more about The Da Vinci Code, more than I could ever want to hear, I'm very glad I didn't read it. Even hearing about it makes my blood boil. It's not real!

I admit that I'm not an expert or even an enthusiast, but there are plenty of people who have looked into the topic, and the credible ones all agree that The Da Vinci Code is fiction. There's an article on Salon that examines the issue clearly .

Of course, there's nothing wrong with making up a conspiracy theory and adding to the intrigue by tying it to reality. I think that's what's known as FICTION.

All I'm saying is this: if you're writing fiction, call it fiction. Lots of people like to read fiction. And try to write well.

And if you think that the fact there's no proof of the secret society makes it all the more real . . . just please don't try to convince me.

I guess it wasn't the straw after all.

Congratulate me. I ordered windshield wipers for my car.

Okay, maybe that doesn't sound that important to you, but here's why it's important.

I remember buying the wrong kind of wipers once, long ago, in another lifetime, when I was married (and my dumb-ass ex-husband obviously didn't know jack about wipers either, or we wouldn't have brought the wrong ones). So I have a vague notion that there are "right" and "wrong" wipers for my car. But I've never actually had to change them myself. Once in a while when I get my oil changed, or my belts checked, or some other routine work on my car, the guy in the shop says that I need new wipers, and that he would be happy to change them for me. I don't even have to bat my eyelashes.

Well the last time they changed my wipers, when I got my car inspected in December, they gave me the CRAPPIEST wipers I have ever seen in my life! They're already worn down. So obviously, I need to take care of this, and I can't always trust the guy in the shop to give me the best wiper bang for my buck. Which means I need to know at least a tiny bit about what I'm trying to do.

Unfortunately, though I have needed new wipers for several weeks at least, I have had a mental block to going and figuring this out for myself. I do everything for myself. I pay my own rent. I get myself up in the morning. I make my own meals. I plan my own trips to Brazil. I know this all sounds just dandy, and mostly it is, because I'm pretty self-sufficient and in general I prefer the way I do things to the way anyone else would do them for me. But every once and a while I'll encounter something I just DON'T want to do for myself. Windshield wipers were on that list, until today. Until I remembered that I'm an independent sort of girl and fending for myself when it comes to windshield wipers is not a big deal.

So I realized there were several ways I could take care of my wipers. I could go to a car part store and ask the salesperson for help and buy the right blades and figure out how to put them on in the parking lot. I could go bat my eyelashes at the corner gas station and make sure they give me the good blades. But I live in New York City and I work in Connecticut. While I'm sure I pass hundreds of purveyors of fine wiper blades on my way to and from work (fifty miles each way), I don't have time to go browsing for wiper blades.

So I did what any red-blooded, independent woman would do: I shopped online.

And there you have it. I found out that my driver's side wiper is 20 inches long and my passenger side wiper is 18 inches long (or is it the other way around? Well I'll worry about that when it comes time to put them on). I ordered silicone wipers guarenteed for five years (which means I won't have to do this again for a while!). And I found a brand that makes colored wipers . . . although I got grey to match my silver car instead of red or yellow or green. If they had pink, make no mistake, I would have gotten pink.

I'm hoping that I will see things a little more clearly.

And I learned that I probably CAN take care of everything I need. Even if I don't want to.

Shoe and Tell

I went shoe shopping this weekend. Actually, you could say I went on a shoe binge. But I NEEDED every single one of the eight pairs. Seriously.

I've realized that the my problem with shoes has deep roots in my childhood. I always thought it was "Shoe and Tell." Of course, I wondered why nobody else talked about their shoes.

My new shoes:

• Brown leather pointy-toed, skinny-silver-heeled knee-high boots. I have been looking for these boots for over a year, and at last I have found them!


• Black leather pointy-toed, skinny-heeled knee-high boots with a kind of fold over flap at the top. Okay, so yes, I do already have a pair of black pointy-toed, skinny-heeled knee-high boots, but these are TOTALLY different. (The heel is much lower! And did I mention they have a kind of fold over flap at the top?)


• Pink tweedy pointy-toed slingbacks with silver buttons. Very cute, springy, girly, but the tweedy texture makes them okay for the cold, which is good since I wore them yesterday.


• Camel pointy-toed slingbacks with black trim. Very nice with camel trousers. A cute update for work shoes.


• Ballet-pink leather moccasins. They're very preppy, which I'm not, in general. But I love them. They seem very North Shore. And comfy.


• Black mesh sequined slides. Preparing for summer. This is actually the first pair of these shoes I have owned.


• Black high-heeled open-toed pumps with lace overlay. They're not regular open-toe, the whole front of the shoes are open.


• Black strappy sandals with rhinestones. One of these black pairs are to go with the dress I'm wearing to my brother's wedding. The rejects may get returned, unless I can justify their existence in my shoe closet.

Judging by the size of my shoe closet, I don't have that much trouble justifying the existence of many pairs of shoes.

Freud's Structural Model of Personality

I've been wondering if Freud got it right. I do remember the id, ego and superego from my Psych classes. But I definitely needed to brush up.

Structural Model (id, ego, superego)

According to Freud, we are born with our Id.  The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met.  Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle.  In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation.  When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries.  When the child needs to be changed, the id cries.  When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met.
 
The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction.  If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes.  They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing.  When the id wants something, nothing else is important.

Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop.  Freud called this part the Ego.  The ego is based on the reality principle.  The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run.  Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.  

By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops.  The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers.  Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong.
 
In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation.  Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person's life.  If the superego becomes to strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world. 



So where am I?

The Gates

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Originally uploaded by organdie jay.

I got the chance to go see the Christo installation The Gates in Central Park on its opening day. It was really very beautiful to look through the bare trees and see the park glowing with these orange (technically "saffron") structures. One gate on its own isn't that impressive, but when they are ranged as far as they eye can see, it's really something to look at. The gates are as wide as the paths they cover, so they're narrower on foot paths and wider on trails, which is something that I wasn't expecting.

I'm so lucky to live in New York.

The Eyes of the Dragon

I got The Eyes of the Dragon for Christmas when I was 11. It was one of ten or twelve books that I got that year; books were always my favorite present.

This book was actually written by Stephen King, which surprised me once I was old enough to read his other books. I remember hearing that he wrote it for his daughter Naomi when she was about 13. It's one of the most exciting books I read as a kid.

I have probably read The Eyes of the Dragon thirty times in my life. The first time I finished reading it, I turned it over and read it again from the beginning. It's a story about a king and his two sons, the eldest of which is to be king when the father dies. And it's a story about the evil magician who plots against the king and the kindgom for no other reason than the wicked joy of bringing despair to the world. This magician, Flagg, poisons the king, frames the older boy for the crime, and sets the befuddled younger son on the throne and through him begins to wreak havoc on the land.

I'm not sure what it is about this book that I love so much. The characters, the story, the words themselves--of course all are compelling. But there's something more in a book that can be re-read thirty times. Now when I read it, I notice the little turns of phrase that are Stephen King's specialty; I'm sure that's part of what draws me back to it again and again.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I'm listening to the Chronicles of Narnia one by one as I drive to work. When I was a kid, these were my favorite books, and I read them over and over again. They still hold their magic for me. The other worlds, the challenges of good versus evil, the struggle to do the right thing, the adventures that don't always go the way you planned. Hmm, kind of sounds like a typical day in New York.

This morning I was trying to remember the names of all seven books. Here's what I came up with (I promise I'm not cheating):

• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe


• The Magician's Nephew


• Prince Caspian


• The Silver Chair


• The Horse and his Boy


• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I'm missing one (I'm cheating to get this one):

• The Last Battle

Of course.

I think my favorite is The Horse and His Boy. I haven't read it for years, but I remember loving it. If I remember correctly, the main characters (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) from the other books aren't featured in it. Also, there's a princess and an escape and . . . I don't remember everything. I guess it's time to read it again. Or listen to it.

Thought for the Day

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.



--Margaret Mead

The Poisonwood Bible

This book by Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorites of all time.

I first read it in 1998 after I heard the author read from it at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. One of the amazing things about the book is that she writes from the point of view of five distinct characters, the wife and daughters of a Baptist missionary preacher. For me, everything about the book is amazing. I love the story. I love the way the story is told. And I always find myself moved to tears by the last section of the book--I've read it three or four times now.

I recently listened to this book on my iPod, and listening was a very different experience than reading. I was forced to listen to the backwards pronounciation of Adah's palindromes . . . when reading, I would always cheat and read them the right way around. Listening is definitely a different kind of experience than reading. I think I prefer reading a book, feeling the paper, seeing the words. Listening seems easier to tune out.

A Very Long Engagement

Trailer

House of Flying Daggers

Trailers

Saved

Trailer

Mean Girls

Trailer

Bad Education

Trailer

Movies I've Seen or Want to See

I don't really watch that many movies, but I really enjoy them when I do. I am 100% against wasting two hours on a bad movie, though; I prefer to be blown away.



I've started this blog to collect a list of movies I want to see so that when I do get the chance to watch a movie, I make sure it's something I've decided is going to be worth my time.



Any suggestions for additions to this list are welcome.

World on Fire

I just saw Sarah McLachlan's new video called "World on Fire."

View it in iTunes here.

I am speechless.

I am so grateful for the life I have.

What I read and what I think about it.

When I was nine or ten, I had the brilliant idea to start a notebook with a list of every book I'd read, and the dates that I read it. I read a lot as a kid, and it was (and still is) one of my greatest joys. And I'm a natural pack rat, so it appeals to me to hold on to those books after I've finished them by keeping track of their titles. Somehow, I never got around to starting the list, and every time I've thought about it since, I've cringed at the thought of how many books I've read and not listed, and then I can't bear to start it. Well, I'm starting it now.

Pen and Paper

It's hard to give my grandparents presents these days. They say they don't need or want anything in particular. I don't know what kind of books they read. I hardly see them, and I probably talk to them on the phone once or twice a year. It's not that I don't want to talk to them, it's just that the forms of communication that fit into my lifestyle, the ones I use to keep in touch with friends all over the world (IM, e-mail, late phone calls after evening minutes kick in on both our cell phones) don't really fit into their lifestyle. They don't have a computer, and although they do have a cell phone (on the same network as me, so we could talk free), they never turn it on. So we don't have that much contact, which is too bad, because they're getting up there, and who knows how much longer they'll be around for me to talk to.



These are my grandparents, Bob and Jean.







They're the only grandparents I have. They're actually my step-mom's parents, but they've been around since I was eight, so they count. My dad's parents both passed away by 2001. My biological mom's family ... well, I don't know much about them at all.



So this Christmas I gave my grandparents a Circle Journey Journal. I started it with a little note and a specific question for each of them. To be honest, when they called to thank me for it, they didn't seem too excited.



"I haven't written a letter in years," my grandmother said. "And your grandfather, he hardly ever did! But I guess we'll have to get to work on it."



All my grandfather said was, "What an unusal gift."



I didn't think they liked it, but at least they seemed to appreciate the spirit of the gift.



Well, they actually did sit down and write answers to my questions, and I finally got the book in the mail a couple days ago. It was so exciting to get real mail! It wasn't a bill, or something I ordered online, or junk mail, or a magazine. It was real mail! And their letters were great. I was even excited to write back to them and answer the questions they asked me.



And even better than getting real mail, I actually learned something about my two wonderful grandparents. Something that you wouldn't just know about them by looking at them. Something about how they think, how they thought when they were younger, what the experiences in their lives have been.

Anonymity and Veneered Particle Board

It's amazing how difficult it is to be anonymous, so I'm giving that up and moving on. (Deleted discussion here about how I decided to be honest instead of anonymous--someone told me that was the right approach.)



I spent the weekend putting some new furniture together. Living in the city (that's New York City) of course means that I need to stay mobile and that I don't have a lot of space. And, honestly, living in New York isn't the reason that I've been keeping things mobile; more on that another time. But I just got tired of looking at plastic drawers full of underwear. I found some inexpensive lingerie chests online. They're one step up from Ikea, but slightly below fine furnishing. And yes, I had to put them together myself.



I'm actually pretty handy at that kind of thing. The secret to success is to read the instructions, but not to pay too much attention to them. It took quite a while, because I had a detour shopping trip to get an electric screwdriver (every girl needs one battery operated power tool; now I finally have mine).



The downside to having fourteen new, empty drawers is that I had to fill them. I spent the rest of my weekend moving stuff around.



But it feels better to look at veneered particle board than it did to look at plastic (though it was plastic artistically draped with a turquoise and gold tiger-print sarong). And particle board seems more permanent than plastic. Maybe I'm starting to settle down a little after five years of flight.

I will not lapse into a comma...

Yes, I stole the title (from an apparently brilliant book by Bill Walsh, which I have not read).



I just want to establish at the outset of this blog that I will be using correct grammar, mechanics, and punctuation.



organdie jay