Guy on Rowan University radio made me laugh this AM. I have heard of a CRISP day but never a CRISPY day. That is quite an eclectic radio station if you happen to be in the Southern New Jersey area (89.7).
Going away for the weekend. Being away from my car makes me anxious. I know fear of leaving home is agoraphopia. But what is it called when you are afraid of being far from your car? Also wondering whether I want to bother taking my laptop with me for a four day trip. Wishing I was the sort of person who knew how to live only from the phone, but I am not that person. I don't even have APPS.
Just finished another book, This is how you lose her, by Junot Diaz. Another book of short stories. I seem to be drawn to them. The stories may have involved the same protagonist, but they certainly weren't in chronological order. A lot of cursing and unpleasant thoughts about women but nicely put. Also a lot of Spanish, some of which I did not know. But I was happy about the Spanish words that I DO know! It was an easy read and gave a good flavor of ethnicity (Dominican Republic), poverty, young men coming of age, relationships, New Jersey, and ghetto life. I love Dominican people so I make a point of reading everything by this author.
I liked this description of a woman from the story The sun, the moon and the stars..."She's the nerd every librarian in town knows, a teacher whose students love her."
About another woman in the story called Miss Lora: "There were a lot of these middle-aged single types in the neighborhood, shipwrecked by every kind of catastrophe, but she was one of the few who didn't have children, who lived alone, who was still kinda young. Something must have happened, your mother specultated. In her mind a woman with no child could only be explained by vast untrammeled calamity. Maybe she just doesn't like children. Nobody likes children, your mother assured you. That doesn't mean you don't have them."
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Trying to be more sensible about eating
Had a Greek yoghurt with a cereal mix in it. Somewhat sensible. No clean pans for making French toast. One day here is what I ate:
Breakfast: donut
Lunch: Subs
Dinner: kettle corn
No wonder I feel like crap.
Things I don't like about yoga:
- the boat pose
- balancing on one foot with a strap holding the other foot
- seated forward bend cause I can't GO anywhere
- the smell of those mats (sort'a chemical?)
- the IDEA of those mats (all over the floor)
I could be happy doing "legs up the wall" for the entire class. In fact, I am quite partial to any poses you can do LYING DOWN. I also like:
- woodchopper's pose
- forward bend (I can touch the floor)
- the relaxing part at the end
- knees over to the side stretch
- windmill pose
Someone just asked me to do some serious research. I haven't done too much of that lately. Yesterday, I DID help with a reference question in a library (I was just being a patron but I overheard a need). How would you know that you could get something notarized at a taxi stand unless you had personal experience? I get around and I find stuff out!
Breakfast: donut
Lunch: Subs
Dinner: kettle corn
No wonder I feel like crap.
Things I don't like about yoga:
- the boat pose
- balancing on one foot with a strap holding the other foot
- seated forward bend cause I can't GO anywhere
- the smell of those mats (sort'a chemical?)
- the IDEA of those mats (all over the floor)
I could be happy doing "legs up the wall" for the entire class. In fact, I am quite partial to any poses you can do LYING DOWN. I also like:
- woodchopper's pose
- forward bend (I can touch the floor)
- the relaxing part at the end
- knees over to the side stretch
- windmill pose
Someone just asked me to do some serious research. I haven't done too much of that lately. Yesterday, I DID help with a reference question in a library (I was just being a patron but I overheard a need). How would you know that you could get something notarized at a taxi stand unless you had personal experience? I get around and I find stuff out!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I can't believe I didn't wear a coat.
All last winter that is. I was paying the AIR CONDITIONING bill yesterday and my fingers were FREEZING. On the news the other night, they were interviewing a young boy who was snow boarding. He said that the previous week, he was WATERSKIING. I guess I shouldn't complain as the conditions were much worse (colder) in the interior of our country. I love fall, don't get me wrong, it is the touch of WINTER in the air that has really got me down. Also the realization that, now that I am retired, I will be paying for my own heat during the daylight hours.
Have been finishing up books like crazy. Soon, I will have so few books by the bed that it will be time for an ANXIETY attack. Any less than five and I start to feel deprived. I will write down some thoughts before I return these books to the library. The two books of essays BOTH had an essay about CRYONICS!?!?
- The mansion of happiness : a history of life and death, by Jill Lepore, included topics such as parenting, aging, and when does life begin and end. My favorite essay was called The children's room and discussed children's literature authors, such as E.B.White, and the beginning of separate juvenile collections in libraries. And the conception of librarians battling over Stuart Little and other books! This book wasn't really such an EASY read, but it brought forth a lot of interesting tidbits of facts. Jill Lepore is a columnist for the New Yorker, which is why I made my librarian buy her book.
- Don't get too comfortable, by David Rakoff. Ever since I heard a bit on NPR about the death of David Rakoff, I have been obsessed with reading his work. I "discovered" him after his death. He is "that guy who sounds like David Sedaris but isn't". He is Canadian and has been on NPR and written for various magazines in a humerous fashion. He also appeared in a Broadway show with Amy and David Sedaris. He's Jewish, gay, prematurely balding and died too young of cancer. My favorite part is in an essay called J.D.V., M.I.A. (Joie de vivre, Missing in action) about a late-night scavenger hunt played in the streets of lower manhattan called Midnight madness. "I am not fun at all. In fact, I am anti-fun. Not as in anti-violence, but as in anti-matter. I am not so much against fun -- although I suppose I kind of am -- as I am the direct opposite of fun. I suck the fun out of a room. Or perhaps I'm just a different kind of fun : the kind that leaves one bereft of hope; the kind of fun that ends in tears."
Have been finishing up books like crazy. Soon, I will have so few books by the bed that it will be time for an ANXIETY attack. Any less than five and I start to feel deprived. I will write down some thoughts before I return these books to the library. The two books of essays BOTH had an essay about CRYONICS!?!?
- The mansion of happiness : a history of life and death, by Jill Lepore, included topics such as parenting, aging, and when does life begin and end. My favorite essay was called The children's room and discussed children's literature authors, such as E.B.White, and the beginning of separate juvenile collections in libraries. And the conception of librarians battling over Stuart Little and other books! This book wasn't really such an EASY read, but it brought forth a lot of interesting tidbits of facts. Jill Lepore is a columnist for the New Yorker, which is why I made my librarian buy her book.
- Don't get too comfortable, by David Rakoff. Ever since I heard a bit on NPR about the death of David Rakoff, I have been obsessed with reading his work. I "discovered" him after his death. He is "that guy who sounds like David Sedaris but isn't". He is Canadian and has been on NPR and written for various magazines in a humerous fashion. He also appeared in a Broadway show with Amy and David Sedaris. He's Jewish, gay, prematurely balding and died too young of cancer. My favorite part is in an essay called J.D.V., M.I.A. (Joie de vivre, Missing in action) about a late-night scavenger hunt played in the streets of lower manhattan called Midnight madness. "I am not fun at all. In fact, I am anti-fun. Not as in anti-violence, but as in anti-matter. I am not so much against fun -- although I suppose I kind of am -- as I am the direct opposite of fun. I suck the fun out of a room. Or perhaps I'm just a different kind of fun : the kind that leaves one bereft of hope; the kind of fun that ends in tears."
Monday, October 8, 2012
Boy, am I glad that I am retired and that I speak English and Spanish!
In "my" McDonald's, listening to a conversation with some prospective employees. They don't speak English and one of the workers is translating. The prospective worker is balking at the possible schedule because she wants to spend time with her family and doesn't want to get assigned every Saturday and Sunday. Also, it would cost more for a babysitter than she could make at McDonald's. I've been there, baby. I have worked SO MANY Saturdays and Sundays but, of course, I don't have a family to spend time with. And, naturally, the "new kid on the block" does get all of the worst of the schedule. That is why I don't feel like looking for a job, myself.
I said I was over 60 minutes, but now I am into it again. Lasy night learned about the dangers of Chinese computer companies and the monopoly of eyeglass companies. But the one story that made me CRY was about a guy I never heard of (shame!), Rodriguez, who wrote some songs and put out an album about 40 years ago called Cold facts. It went nowhere and he went to work as a day laborer. Somehow, he was a huge star in South Africa but he never knew anything about it. Then there was a connection and a young adorable Swedish guy decided to make a movie about him with a Super 8 app he bought for $1 for his iPhone! The guy and the film are famous now. I really want to find the movie which won at Sundance and is called "Looking for Sugar man".
It is cold and grim today. I dread the coming of winter and having to pay for my own heat all day long. My house expenses are going to put me in the poor house.
I said I was over 60 minutes, but now I am into it again. Lasy night learned about the dangers of Chinese computer companies and the monopoly of eyeglass companies. But the one story that made me CRY was about a guy I never heard of (shame!), Rodriguez, who wrote some songs and put out an album about 40 years ago called Cold facts. It went nowhere and he went to work as a day laborer. Somehow, he was a huge star in South Africa but he never knew anything about it. Then there was a connection and a young adorable Swedish guy decided to make a movie about him with a Super 8 app he bought for $1 for his iPhone! The guy and the film are famous now. I really want to find the movie which won at Sundance and is called "Looking for Sugar man".
It is cold and grim today. I dread the coming of winter and having to pay for my own heat all day long. My house expenses are going to put me in the poor house.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The peripatetic librarian
As part of my obsessive record keeping and list making, I record where I go every day to access the computer. I try to go somewhere DIFFERENT daily day so no one will think my life is TOO pathetic. This week I have been to:
- Monday - Sea Isle City Library, Sea Isle City, New Jersey
- Tuesday - Vineland Public Library, Vineland, New Jersey
- Wednesday - Little mama's cafe, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Thursday - Cumberland County Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Friday - Bridgeton Public Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Saturday - Paul Robeson Library, Camden, New Jersey
- Sunday - Starbuck's - Millville, New Jersey
Today I volunteered at Wheaton Arts crafts festival. It used to be called Wheaton VILLAGE but now we must refer to it as Wheaton ARTS(dumb). It was kind of fun, although raining at first and the temperature dropped precipitously. It sounded like a good idea at the time I signed up. I kind of forgot that I am not really a fan of being on my feet for four hours at a time. Then church lasted too long due to COMMUNION and I was a bit late. My job was "booth sitter". I had to walk around, introduce myself to the artists and offer to babysit their booth while they went to the john or to get a snack. Met some nice people, saw some real creativity, felt bad that I didn't buy stuff but shopping causes me anxiety. Got my kettle corn and saw some friends. Decided nex time I should take my envelope of cash from my drawer so I don't always feel like I CAN'T BUY ANYTHING. Sometimes I take this frugality thing too far. Why do I always have to DECIDE between crafts or gas? Why can't I have BOTH? Just askin'.
Now a report on an audio book and a book which I have just finished. The book is Faithless : tales of transgression, by Joyce Carol Oates. I read it because it is the One book selection of the Cumberland County College this term. The 21 short stories do involve a lot of sex and violence and other weird stuff. Some of the topics listed in a New York Times book review were, "loneliness, divorce, revenge and not a little gun ownership". It kept my interest at least. I will try and attend the lecture they will schedule with the author.
Was very glad to get to the end of my audio book called Last lessons of summer, by Margaret Maron. I did not like this book. It involved an old house down south, a family business of children's books, a suicide and a murder and trying to figure it all out. Boy, but this women had one annoying family. Amy goes down to North Carolina to clean out her grandmother's house after her grandmother is murdered. Many boring and bothersome family members are waiting for the house to be sold so they can get some money. Add an irresponsible, cursing sister and a jar of poisoned fig preserves.
- Monday - Sea Isle City Library, Sea Isle City, New Jersey
- Tuesday - Vineland Public Library, Vineland, New Jersey
- Wednesday - Little mama's cafe, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Thursday - Cumberland County Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Friday - Bridgeton Public Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Saturday - Paul Robeson Library, Camden, New Jersey
- Sunday - Starbuck's - Millville, New Jersey
Today I volunteered at Wheaton Arts crafts festival. It used to be called Wheaton VILLAGE but now we must refer to it as Wheaton ARTS(dumb). It was kind of fun, although raining at first and the temperature dropped precipitously. It sounded like a good idea at the time I signed up. I kind of forgot that I am not really a fan of being on my feet for four hours at a time. Then church lasted too long due to COMMUNION and I was a bit late. My job was "booth sitter". I had to walk around, introduce myself to the artists and offer to babysit their booth while they went to the john or to get a snack. Met some nice people, saw some real creativity, felt bad that I didn't buy stuff but shopping causes me anxiety. Got my kettle corn and saw some friends. Decided nex time I should take my envelope of cash from my drawer so I don't always feel like I CAN'T BUY ANYTHING. Sometimes I take this frugality thing too far. Why do I always have to DECIDE between crafts or gas? Why can't I have BOTH? Just askin'.
Now a report on an audio book and a book which I have just finished. The book is Faithless : tales of transgression, by Joyce Carol Oates. I read it because it is the One book selection of the Cumberland County College this term. The 21 short stories do involve a lot of sex and violence and other weird stuff. Some of the topics listed in a New York Times book review were, "loneliness, divorce, revenge and not a little gun ownership". It kept my interest at least. I will try and attend the lecture they will schedule with the author.
Was very glad to get to the end of my audio book called Last lessons of summer, by Margaret Maron. I did not like this book. It involved an old house down south, a family business of children's books, a suicide and a murder and trying to figure it all out. Boy, but this women had one annoying family. Amy goes down to North Carolina to clean out her grandmother's house after her grandmother is murdered. Many boring and bothersome family members are waiting for the house to be sold so they can get some money. Add an irresponsible, cursing sister and a jar of poisoned fig preserves.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
I read banned books!
Happy Banned books week, September 30th - October 6th. Celebrate the freedom to read. Just to name a FEW of the banned books I have read:
- To kill a mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Once, when I was a librarian, a patron asked for a book, HOW to kill a Mockingbird...
It is also Gluten free month (October). This is the latest trendy disease. Perhaps there is something to it, but I have not yet had the discipline to investigate it.
Working today. I have a job. It is only one day a month. And not EVERY month! I tried to get here early to make sure everything was working right and that I could remember all the passwords to get things going.
Passwords are quite an annoyance. Luckily, here, there is a list of the needed passwords for all to view. BUT it is password protected. My PERSONAL list of passwords numbers 44. Then I had a big long list for my main job and then another list for my part time job. I won't say where they all are kept, but some people recommend a booklet where you write them all down. Problem with that is I like to keep them in alphabetical order.
- To kill a mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Once, when I was a librarian, a patron asked for a book, HOW to kill a Mockingbird...
It is also Gluten free month (October). This is the latest trendy disease. Perhaps there is something to it, but I have not yet had the discipline to investigate it.
Working today. I have a job. It is only one day a month. And not EVERY month! I tried to get here early to make sure everything was working right and that I could remember all the passwords to get things going.
Passwords are quite an annoyance. Luckily, here, there is a list of the needed passwords for all to view. BUT it is password protected. My PERSONAL list of passwords numbers 44. Then I had a big long list for my main job and then another list for my part time job. I won't say where they all are kept, but some people recommend a booklet where you write them all down. Problem with that is I like to keep them in alphabetical order.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Unsavory denizens of downtown
Attended a cooking demonstration down at the pocket park today. We are supposed to call it the "Culinary Park" but I think that is a bit pretentious as well as a misnomer. I picked up a recipe for Broccoli cakes which I don't know if I will ever make. It involves frying in a quarter of an inch of hot oil. I am know for my passion for picking up recipes and my lack of interest in actually cooking. We were advised to bring our own lunch as the demo was just for TASTINGS. Some sort of homeless-looking guys were scarfing up the samples. They had not received the memo. The cook was actually reprimanding one of the guys for his language and his manners.
Word of the day: DENIZEN. It means inhabitant, or someone who frequents a place.
Returned a book to the library today that I did not really enjoy. The dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman, is a historical story of four women a very long time ago when Jews were being done away with on a mountain called Masada in ancient Israel. It was confusing and too violent for me. It was a book club choice and I already missed the discussion about it. So many books, so little time!
Word of the day: DENIZEN. It means inhabitant, or someone who frequents a place.
Returned a book to the library today that I did not really enjoy. The dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman, is a historical story of four women a very long time ago when Jews were being done away with on a mountain called Masada in ancient Israel. It was confusing and too violent for me. It was a book club choice and I already missed the discussion about it. So many books, so little time!
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