Is there a better way to list books read?

Since I can't SEARCH this blog, it is not a very efficient way to list books read. All I can do is COUNT them and not even break them down into time periods or types. Being list obsessed, I may need to develop a better method! Also should I rank by loved it! - it was OK - did not really like it?

Torch scene (ebook) (a Reed Ferguson mystery), by Renee Pawlish. Not so great. A guy keeps doing dumb things to try and solve a mystery all the while telling people he won't do anything stupid. Was the fire deliberately set, by whom and why?

Using the internet in a not-open-for-business coffee shop downtown. I know the owner and have a key. Sitting here all by myself with the door open hoping that no one tries to take advantage of me or steal my electronics.

Signs of Spring

Here are some signs of Spring that I have seen:
- brilliant sunsets
- cars on the corner FOR SALE
- people renovating their homes
- robins
- birds making a lot of noise on top of my air conditioners
- me no longer wearing a coat

My dream of you (book), by Nuala O'Faolain. Don't know where I picked this book up. It was a so-so fiction tale of a travel writer who goes to a town to do historical research about things that happened around the time of the potato famine in Ireland.
A woman of the higher classes was vilified for having an affair with a tradesman....true or not?

I am an obsessive list maker. One of my lists is called "Computers to avoid at the Vineland Public Library". I just added THIS computer, number 9. I hate it when those little thingys are broken off, the thingys that hold the keyboard up at an angle. Invariably, ONE of them is broken, rendering the other one useless. Problem number 2 is that the keys are worn away and you have to type from your memory of what the keys are. Also, I hate the mouse. It is a Dell and very "reluctant". The screen is tiny but that does not really bug me so very much.

Things you think about in the shower

I don't have time to think of ANYTHING in the shower, other than getting myself clean and the rituals that accompany this goal. Plus, I am a very fast showerer. When I was in Paris, you had to buy a JETON to put in the shower. It was only good for 5 minutes. I was quite proud of the fact that I came in UNDER 5 minutes.
Where I think of a lot of things is during Senior stretch class. We sit in front of the DVD and I am so accustomed to the routine that my mind can wander all over the place.

Lately, I have been obsessed with LISTS, made and unmade. Here are some lists and charts that I would like to make:
1. a chart where I can keep track of the cleaning of coats and scarves. Each year, I say I am going to clean them ALL at the end of each season, but then I don't.
2. a chart listing physical symptoms and their relationship to foods eaten and drugs taken. Trying to self-diagnose.
3. I can't think of them NOW

Disocvered a new website called Bookbub. Actually someone at Yoga class told me about it. You learn of cheap or free ebooks. I already downloaded one from Barnes and Noble for my Nook!

The high cost of maintaining your 5 senses

Have just come from the dentist after having learned the hard cruel repercussions from having bitten down on an unpopped popcorn kernel last week - The "best" option involves 4 steps, two doctors, 10 months and $4500. (They tell you the other options but make them sound really unappealing). It made me think about the high cost of our senses. I will rank them in order of cost (just guessing here)
1. Taste - if it involves the TEETH it gets really expensive...cavities, root canals and now IMPLANTS
2. Sight - glasses and cataract surgery and laser surgery can get pricy
3. Hearing - an expensive, tiny, problematic object is a bitch to sic on the elderly person
4. Smell - those that lose their sense of smell just get by without it
5. Touch - pretty much the last thing to go

Am headphone-less and all the other people in this library are really getting on my nerves. All of my cheap headphones I acquired on airplanes have now bitten the dust. I have to listen to:
- talking
- phones ringing
- people quietly cursing to themselves
- the clicking as a woman photographs pages on the Internet
- one guy who is constantly turning the dial on the mouse to go down the page
- sighs and groans from people not doing well in their online games

Having a hot flash. It will pass. The weather is great outside and I am sort of warmly dressed.

New drug names are laughable

Whenever I see a new drug advertized on TV, the names seem really outrageous and stupid. I don't know what it is for, but a new one is Latudo.

The lowland (audiobook), by Jhumpa Lahiri. Not wonderful, but I listened to the entire thing. Did it get better as it went along? Not sure. Two brothers, living in Calcutta, India. One goes to the states to study and live (Rhode Island) and the other one stays at home, gets married, is involved in revolutionary secretive activities and dies. The other brother marries his wife and takes care of his child, but everyone seems to be hidden and silent and unhappy. This problem continues into the next generation.

Good things about retirement:
- you don't have to set the alarm
- you can appreciate the fine days during the fine hours
- you don't have to rush out and get your car fixed in order to get to work
- you don't have to be rushing and speeding all the time
- I don't have a boss

Allergies!

Must get to the store and buy some allergy meds! I used to take THREE medications all year round. But, when I retired, I had to confront the fact that all three of these meds were really expensive. Do I really need them? Have been getting along pretty well with none of them until right now, which is the historical, traditional time for hay fever.

The cat who dropped a bombshell (audiobook), by Lilian Jackson Braun. This was a repeat for me, a necessary break from the last book I read which was about the horrors of WWII. The cat who books are my relaxation, cozy mysteries about a humble billionaire who dates the local librarian (by now she owns a bookshop). His two Siamese cats provide clues to local deaths and mysteries. The series has long been finished so my only option is redoing them. This is the 28th book and features a visit from a young man (possible heir) and his fiancée, and the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town. Local eccentrics and events entertain us throughout.

Time is running out to do customary summer things....getting peaches from Sunny Slope, going kayaking, swimming at a friend's house, using his paddle boat, riding a bike, buying fruits and vegetables from local stands. This is what I entertain myself with while others are going on vacation.

Crossing three things off of my list

Got online - a daily need (like sunshine). Completed arthritis class this AM. The good thing about an 8 AM exercise class is that you can cross it off the list. A friend took me out to breakfast and then we went to see the Muppets most wanted movie. Seeing a movie is a weekly goal of mine.

Big beat Miami 2014 (album), by David Guetta and a lot of friends. Enjoyable as techno background but no songs that really speak to me and say SAVE ME on Youtube.

Muppets most wanted (movie): Funny with lots of famous people on for about 3 minutes each and good songs. Then I went to Hoopla and was able to borrow the album, which made me very happy. Nice seeing the Muppets travel around the world as I like seeing the world. Went with a friend to the early show (11:35 AM) and we were the only people in there so we could laugh as loudly as we wanted to without bothering anyone. It is very disorienting to come out of the movie theater and it is only the middle of the afternoon. Particularly enjoyed Tina Fey. Usher was....an usher. We had to get the popcorn, even though we had just had breakfast, because it was $2 popcorn Tuesday.

Things I am NOT interested in....

Don't have room in my brain for:
- candy
- wine
- college football
- horror
- violence

There are some weird names in the world. Not the time to be a teacher, what with all of the apostrophes and made-up names. Here are some I came across in the Police report of New York, Millville and Vineland. (These are an exception to my rule of using no names):
- Daquan
- Antiq
- Quanderia
- Sharmaine
- Alshamar

Listening to a CD: Mechanical bull, by Kings of Leon. Perhaps if I listen to it again, it will grow on me.

Living with a bat

Freaked out by a bat the other night.  Ran into another room and then it quieted down.
Have had discussions lately with friends about how to handle bats.  Supposedly there is a $500 fine for killing a bat.  I had not had one for decades.  I did volunteer to move one at church.  It turned out to be dead, but I didn't know that when I volunteered.  So, I actually went to sleep knowing that there was a bat in my house (the power of Ambien).  The next morning I saw it resting above my kitchen cabinet.  By the time I got organized to get it, it had MOVED and I didn't know where it went.  So, the next night, it started flying around at 8 PM and I ran into the other room to escape it.  I think it may have gotten trapped in some clutter and expired.  But I will have to go home around 8 PM to see if it flying around.  I thought bats could get out of any spot.

Put out the recycling tonight.  People are going to think I am a lush.  Some people had a party behind my house this week.  They thoughtfully put 5 empty bottles of Hurricane malt liquor in my recycling bin.  I had to pick up some black plastic bags that they carried the bottles in, but...

Pros and cons of my day....

Cons:
- struggled with my oral surgeon while he "pulled" two wisdom teeth
- the pain of the needles going in to give me the novocaine
- getting a paper telling me about possible swelling and pain for ten days
- missed the VMAs on TV last night cause I didn't even know they were on
- no dental insurance now that I am retired

Pros:
- watching some YouTube videos by Anna Kendrick and Mackelmore
- neighborhood peaceful today
- yoga this AM at Cumberland County Library
- got some really good pain pills from the oral surgeon
- a friend who had emergency surgery is doing better
- doctor gave me 20% off due to my lack of insurance

Never too early for Coke

Guy behind me in line at McDonald's was getting a large Coke at 8:00 AM.  I was getting a small black coffee.  Yes, I AM feeling slightly self-righteous.

Names of people are getting quite creative, especially around MY town. Here are some from the police blotter, May 11, 2013 - Jaymere, Purman, Quamane, and Tonetta.

I think what I miss most about work is the opportunity to be on the computer ALL DAY LONG.
Today am working at my part-time job, which is hardly working in the summer.  I like to keep a hand in and keep my library privileges.  I have been renewing one book for more than 15 years and don't know if I can ever get it back.  I loaned it to a boyfriend when he was writing a play.  He returned a lot of them recently, but not that one.  He is married to someone else now, so it is sort of awkward. 

Wishing I was at the beach, where it is cooler.....

I've been living in the past all weekend

Is this what it is like to get older?  The past suddenly seems more interesting than the present.  Saturday night I went to  a concert at the Landis Theater in Vineland, NJ.  Lauren Fox sang songs of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.  She seemed like Joni Mitchell of long ago.  When she sang Leonard's songs, she put on a fedora.  It was interesing getting the back story behind various songs.  She sang the one Joni wrote while hanging out with Leonard at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.  Then she sang the one that HE wrote there, but it was about Janis Joplin.  He was quite the womanizer.  (Actually, weren't we all?)  It was taking me back to my youth.  She finished up with a song by each of them.  The word "FREE" came up an awful lot.  We all wanted to be free forever, not realizing that we could be imprisoned by our own selves.

Also thinking about the past a lot as someone is researching a communal house I lived in perhaps from 1975 - 1980.  So, there is a flurry of emails back and forth as we all recall things.  I have been procrastinating on my answers for a questionnaire that he sent out.  I had better hurry before all the stories THAT I REMEMBER have already been mentioned by others.  It was a good time at Atlantic Street House in Bridgeton, and I still love all the people, those that are not DEAD.

Sunday I went to a classical music concert which was fabulous.  Had to drive all the way down to Stockton State College in Pomona but at least a friend went with me.  I HAD to hear Rachmaninoff piano concerto #2 as it holds great sentimental value for me.  I was in LUST with a Frenchman who chose that record at my mother's house (she was away), put it on the stereo and proceded to tell me that it was "the most erotic piece of music ever written".  Need I say more about our subsequent activities?  I enjoyed hearing it again and reminiscing about former loves and one night stands. (I need to make a list!)

Finished a book, Beautiful ruins : a novel, by Jess Walter.  It has been mentioned in quite a few places and lists.  It jumps around a bit between time periods and locales.  Interestingly enough, I was on the Italian coastline in 1967 and there was a rumor that Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were dining in an outdoor cafe in Protofino.  So this guy writes a fictional (?) tale of a hotel owner who encounters an actress who apparently had a daliance with Richard Burton and is being hidden away in this obscure town and inn on the coast.  Later in life, an old man and a young writer meet at an agent's office in Los Angeles and, along with his assistant, they reveal more details about this story.  I thought is was pretty interesting and suspenseful and could almost have been true.  I borrowed it from the Vineland Public Library (FIC Walter Jess). 

Where does the time go?

What have I been doing for an hour and a half?  That is too long to spend on just email.  OK, I have been watching some YouTube videos, including one from the Vineland Public Library I just posted.  YouTube is very time consuming, because you are supposed to WATCH and not just listen.

Places I would like to spend an entire day:
- the health club (I feel satisfied with myself if I go to ONE class, no matter how unchallenging it is)
- The Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Grounds for Sculpture in North Jersey

Things to do when it rains for three days this weekend ( I HATE that).  First, things I DON'T like to do when it rains:
- See it or hear it
- Drive
- Be home (conflicts with not wanting to DRIVE)
Things perhaps I COULD do:
- taxes - because it HAS to be done, like it or not!
- organize receipts
- movies

Pleasures and pains

Pleasures of the day:
- A very light snow, just enough for viewing.  It all melted in a few hours.
- Took a pain pill.
- Read for one hour
- Went back to bed
- Got on to the computer with my new library card
- Watching immense pine tree and my favorite overgrown bush out the window with snow on them

Pains of the day:
- Only two phone calls...one to remind me to pick up pills at Walgreens and one from the NRDC wanting me to donate $25 a month
-  No time for exercise what with all of my lazing around
- I just tried to add an article about lists but I don't know where it went
- Someone wants me to save the newspaper for her.  But I like to CUT THINGS OUT.  I am not going to stop doing that just for her.  I will just try to cut more carefully.

Just finished a short and delightful book.....The art of procrastination : a guide to effective dawdling, lollygagging and postponing ( or, getting things done by putting them off) , by John Perry.

I liked the book because he provides a justification for procrastination.  This was refreshing, because everybody else just tells you how to change yourself and become a non-procrastinator.  My favorite chapter is called, A plea for the horizontally organized.  His idea is to get a VERY LARGE lazy susan for all of the piles (say, 15 feet in diameter).  I know I have been instructed to get everything verticle, but like the author of this book, I don't think I could cope with having all of my projects in file folders.  Afriend loaned me this book because she thought I would enjoy it and I did.

Why the Internet Loves Lists | Smart News

Why the Internet Loves Lists | Smart News

Secrets of my (health) success

I never seem to get "sick".  Of course, I am always semi-sick with an as-yet-unidentifed dread disease, but I don't get colds or the flu or any of that.  Here are the secrets of my success:
- Eat junk food
- Never clean your house
- Live alone

Why is my name so hard to remember?  My massage therapist and my exercise teacher are always calling me by the wrong name.  And not the SAME name, either.  I don't correct them.  I will answer to anything. 
My massage therapist calls me Janine and my exercise teacher calls me Mary Jane.

Went back on antidepressant yesterday.  I answered one question....I didn't automatically lose weight when I went off of them.  I was perfectly happy on Pristiq but it was going to cost me some horrifying amount with my new drug plan situation.  So, I was getting along OK...sometimes being obsessed with my NEED for an antidepressant and sometimes forgetting completely about it.  My doctor suggested that I fill my prescription for another brand because what can it hurt to try?  So I did.

A sense of accomplishment

Just tried the new sandwich at McDonald's.  I LIKE it and it only costs $1.  Well, I can't seem to find it on their website.  Seems like a regular cheeseburger but it has caramelized onions on it?  Already ate out ONCE today so now I can only eat out if it is CHEAP.

I only have two stations I like at the Cumberland County Library.  They have the dainty mouse instead of this huge Gateway thing.  Both stations were busy.  So I went into the lab hoping to avoid the noisy, amnoying people.  But I still have to use the ginormous stupid mouse.

Had a handyman come over today.  It makes me anxious as I have a very limited attention span for accomplishing things.  Even though it cost me quite a bit, I enjoyed "puttering around" with another person.  And the weather was quite decent! (sunny and perhaps in the 40's?)  I shouldn't begrudge him the money as I only have help very rarely.  Here is what we accomplished (and I really did feel good after working outside for 2 1/2 hours):
- Replaced broken window pane in garage
- Pulled most of ivy off of garage
- Replaced bulb in front door light
- Replaced two motion detector lights in back
- Replaced two motion detector lights up above
- Pounded in loose boards on fence
- Rewired bird feeder after the squirrels ate through the wire supports
- Took all stuff out of my trunk and sorted through it
- Went through a few boxes of stuff in my garage
- Threw out some of my books from Hollins Abroad in France (1967)
- Realligned fence gates so they latch better
- Clipped some branches touching house and hanging down
- Filled suet feeder
- Filled trash bin up to the top with trash bags

Once is not enough

Things that you need more than one of...candy corn, potato chips, hours of computer time.  Things I have in EVERY room of the house....scotch tape, scissors, stapler, waste basket, phone.

Still hanging in with that audiobook (The ruins).  Now all the people are up on top of the mountain and out of the mine shaft at least.  They are surrounding by the hostile Mayans at the bottom of the hill who have built fires all around the hill. They are waiting for daylight. Not that there is much hopeful to look forward to in the daylight.  Perhaps drinking their own urine or hoping that a plane flies by so they can try and signal them.  Or maybe the friends of Pablo, the Greek, may come looking for them, but they might get trapped too and they don't speak their language.  Of course, no one has a cell phone. There is something really creepy about these flowering vines.  When Jeff tried to go down to the bottom of the hill, they were really tangling around him but on the way up, they seemed to part for his passage. 

It is amazing how hard it is to meet my goal of ONE movie per week (at the movie theater, that is.)  One friend pooped out on me TWICE this week.  Everyone says they are sick but I don't know.  Luckily, another friend called and the day got reorganized.  The first person I called (my sister) could not commit.  She ALSO said she is sick.  I may have to give up EXERCISE in order to fit in going out to lunch, however.  That is not a real hardship since all exercise is an up hill battle for me.  I was debating between senior swim or lifting weights.  I may just have time for computer usage, going out to lunch at Andrea's trattoria ristorante, going to a movie (This is 40?) and then an art opening at Gallery 50 in Bridgeton.  Then it will be time for READING and getting into my delicious warm bed.  (I felt like getting back into it when I was MAKING it this morning).

Having trouble getting online

OK, the weekend was SO busy, no time for Internet OR exercise (the eternal struggle).
Here I am at the Vineland library trying to fit everything into ONE hour....so stingy with the computer time. Not just Vineland, ALL the libraries, except for the Ocean City Library.

Glad about the following things:
- The sun finally came out at 3 PM
- There was an accident on Chestnut Avenue and I was not involved
- It did not actually rain today, just looked threatening and damp
- I brought my interlibrary loan book back and found out that it was WAY overdue
- I got something to eat for my prior co-workers and also supported a friend who is trying to have business selling only candy and art

Sad about the next five things:
- My ceiling started leaking in the middle of the night, exactly where it has been fixed not so many months ago
- Today just felt weighed down with issues about my roof, my teeth, my pills and many other undone things
- Gloomy weather really depresses me
- Can't get in the mood for Christmas. Feel like a real humbug (but I am like this every year)
- There is no number five, but things sound better in fives

Had a good weekend. Reunion with girlfriends of the 70's and saw Lincoln and ate at Coriander (an Indian restaurant in Voorhees). Ate with Breakfast club and volunteered at the symphony on Saturday. Sang in the choir and volunteered as a host for Christmas in Greenwich on Sunday and then had dinner with a friend.

Reasons to be happy

1. Family relatively unscathed in Hurricane Sandy
2. Took two pain pills
3. Listening to Rachmaninoff piano concerto #2 in car
4. Gorgeous clouds and sun and fall leaves on ride down to Greenwich
5. There is no five, but things sound better in fives

Actually, that was Ellen's joke which I heard last night as she got Mark Twain award at John F. Kennedy center in DC. I adore Ellen DeGeneris. I would love to go to her show, even. I think I tried to enter a contest to get tickets but you had to submit a picture of yourself and that stymied me. She just gets more adorable as the years go by.

I have always hated our Governor, Chris Christie. Have never been able to watch him complete a sentence on TV, even. But, now, I have been obsessively watching Hurricane coverage for five days and I am glued to his every word. He really does seem to CARE about New Jersey.

Things to do when the electric goes off

Just trying to get my lists together:
- Things to do while the electricity is on: watch DVDs, cook, enjoy the heat
- Things to do when the electricity goes off: read, eat the ice cream

Went down to my sister's to try and distract myself from Hurricane Sandy. We have been watching the approach on TV and getting ready for DAYS. If it is going to leak at home, it is going to leak and there is not much I can do about it. I'll just have to clean it up when the storm is over. I just got BORED with my home activities and thought I would come down to where there is a fireplace and they live on top of a hill. We watched a really great DVD called Page eight, a British spy caper that I missed on Masterpiece theater.

I'd like life to get back to normal, but I don't really know what normal is any more.