Snow! Books!

Here in central Illinois, we are about to get dumped on by a huge winter storm. I think I heard that 30 states will be hit by this front, with a possible accumulation between 12-24 inches (you'd think there would be more accuracy on the range). I told Dan he should work from home tomorrow and Wednesday - in response he said the IL. House of Representatives has called off their session for the rest of the week, so I think everyone is happy to stay inside for this one.

I, however, have the pleasure of living two block from work, so I'll be going in for my shift at 7:30. It will be slow, but at least we'll get a lot of projects done! Yay books!

I've been enjoying the benefits of working at the bookstore again - in that I get to check out any book that has a dust jacket for up to two weeks. With prompting from my sister, and just about every bookseller at BN, I've read through the Hunger Games trilogy (2nd: Catching Fire, 3rd: Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins. They are lively and exciting, and have elements of social commentary I enjoy, like the books The Handmaid's Tale, A Brave New World, The Giver, and the short stories The Lottery, and Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" and "Welcome to the Monkey House". I also am a sucker for a strong female character in YA books, and Katniss hits the spot.

Other YA books I've enjoyed recently are The Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card and (I'm currently reading) The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi.

With all the news stations blabbing about the snow and because of general need, I stopped by the store on the way home to find this (see photo) waiting for me. That little white thing there is Baxter's back paw. I don't know how he got himself in there so snuggly, but I think he has the right idea with all the flurries headed out way. Batten down the hatches!

I hope you are all safe and warm, and that you have a kitty and good book close by.

Beige messenger bag

Hello friends! I've had a lovely morning, listening to The Lady and The Unicorn on cassette tapes (!!!) and sewing. Here is my latest. Adios!

Coloring books

I've mentioned my book cases before, but this is the first photo that shows what I've done. Color organized bookshelves! I've see this done on several websites and the idea has stuck hard with me. I understand that to some this looks neurotic, but it makes me so happy to have them grouped in such a way. I've tried alphabetizing them, using genre, author, story theme, and title as an organizing style. I've never really been satisfied with it. But this - this I love!

Happy Halloween!

Instead of getting a costume, going out, and being a part of the Carbondale community last night, I watched (a little) of the Oregon v. USC game and read The Girl That Kicked the Hornet's Nest again. I sat in the chair with sun on it for as long as possible, then got into a pile with Kodak, Baxter, and yes, even Comma, for afternoon reading/napping. Not much going on - other than reliving the mental kung-fu Lisbeth pulls out on Sweeden's legal system.

Out of the blue, I got a call (I heard her voice!) from my sister in Turkey! She skype-dialed me and she told me all about her next mind-stretching project: NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. I am excited to hear how it goes for her. It was a short call, but it was 11 pm where she was and sometimes that's just how it goes. I got to hear a bit from Adam too, as he piped up in the background. I miss you C!



I also received a phone call from my brother, Josh, and we talked details of our get together this week. I get to see both of my brothers! Josh and Krista are working in St. Louis this next weekend and they (as per usual) beat the truck with all the stuff so they get a few days to bum around. We'll meet in Bloomington, hang, go spend time with Miah, Jessie and the kiddos, and then on Wednesday I'll drive them back to St. Louis. I am really looking forward to meeting Krista and I don't see Josh near enough.

Myths Series

I've been a fan of mythologies for quite sometime. The history of oral tradition mixed with the fantastical ideas of gods, quests, and creation stories make my mind whirl with how large and long they have been in existence. The idea of myths is something I feel is decidedly human, and not just historically human, but true still in how they continue to be revised and created today.

A few years ago, I read a book called The Penelopiad by one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood. It's a wonderful perspective of what Penelope's world was like when her husband, Odysseus, was off on his adventures, known from Homer's The Odyssey. I loved reading it for many reasons: Atwood continues to use satire to entertain and educate, the main character is a powerful heroine in a world dominated by male creatures and force, and it shows more depth in a story I already loved.

When last in Sp0kane, I picked up Phillup Pullman's new book called The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, which is a fictional interpretation of, you guessed it, Jesus Christ, who in this book, is represented as two separate people. It is no where near one of my favorites, but in looking into the research done for this book, I found out it's part of series Canon Gate is doing, called The Myths Series. I was also happy to find that one of my favorites, The Penelopiad is a part of this series.



I've taken up the goal to read them all, and currently I'm working through Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith. It's the only one available through the library, so the others I'll be hunting on websites and bookstores. This one takes up the myths of the Celtic Dream God, Angus.

Just by their outlines on CanonGate's website, I'm particularly interested in the myths The Helmet of Horror, Baba Yaga Laid and Egg, and The Hurricane Party. If you like this idea, I encourage you to read them too.

More Stieg Larsson is a good thing.

A present came for me in the mail last Tuesday that made my whole week. The third book by Steig Larsson arrived from Linda. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest hasn't been released in the US yet, but Linda happens to have a friend across the pond that was happy to loan out her copy! This book/series is quite a read. The lead female character is unlike any I've read before. Lisbeth Salander is a wisp of a person (physically) but has skills and a stoicism that is both scary and inspiring. I won't go into plot lines, but if you are interested in some great crime novels, the first two are The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and The Girl Who Played With Fire.

(found here)

And so now, happy Sunday.

I started my day with the kitties getting into trouble. Knocking things off the counter on their wild laps around the house, all before the sun was up. Luckily there was just enough coffee left to make a pot for today. Whew!

We've had glorious thunder storms all weekend here in C-dale. Wind and downpours without any sprinkle of warning. Dan got soaked coming back in from changing the laundry, and it was only a few minutes and maybe 15 yards away!

I'm sewing bags and pockets, and altering dresses and skirts I picked up at Good Will. The more I get to using my sewing machine, the more I want to try. It's a rewarding/ongoing cycle.

Enjoy the day!

Bloomington Weekend #2

I'm at the Coffee House in Normal this morning. Rain forest crunch granola and coffee. I'll go home today after I meet Kristy and Trish for lunch.

I started the day by cleaning out the last of un-necessaries from the second bedroom, and collected some books I've been wanting from the shelf. I noticed I still had Bob Steinman's copies of Simone de Beauvoir's The Woman Destroyed and She Came to Stay.

It seems the universe and I were in tune for a while. As I was driving through the maze of streets that Normal has deemed it's "uptown," I saw Bob and Anne pulling into the Medici. I quickly pulled over, popped out, grabbed his books and said hello. It was a nice couple minutes, with hugs and questions about Alaska. After all of the drama with Medici, I'm glad Bob and I came to an understanding about many things, and I can honestly say I'm friends with one of the crankiest men in Blono.

My reason for coming up this weekend was to say goodbye to my friend Danny Reid. He and another friend, Sam, are moving to Fairfield, California, where Danny's precious girlfriend is stationed. I'm completely excited for all of them!

A perk of being up for the weekend (besides seeing some of my favorite people) was attending ISU Pride Drag Show for the first time. It was amazing to have student performers gathering the courage to get in front of such a huge crowd along side some truly talented professional queens. I didn't take photos, but wow. Afterward the party was at the Bistro, where I stayed only long enough to have a picture taken with Kristy, get her chest unwrapped, and visit with Trish for a bit. The picture is a bit creepy, as Kristy was still in her John Wayne Gacy outfit - so be warned:

I'll drive back down to Carbondale, listening to podcasts and the beginning of Neil Geiman's The Graveyard Book. The four hours will go fast, I hope.

Update from Work!

The last six-ship day is tomorrow. This is amazing. I am so excited! It's almost over!

I've got a couple trips scheduled out to Allen Marine for whale watching. Fairly straight forward. Then this Thursday will be my last day in dispatch. Thursday night we have our appreciation dinner complete with sappy photo montage, I'm sure.

I was pleasantly surprised by a package on my bed yesterday. Linda had sent up the next book from the Swedish series she got me started on, with the fantastic protagonist, Salander, the snarky and quiet crime fighter. I really wanted to read the next book and I was going to patiently wait to borrow it from her once I got back to IL, but she sent it! It is in my backpack right now! I got to read it for hours and hours today! Thanks Linda!

I am hoping I can sneak some time on Carrie's computer once I get home in a few minutes. Being at work, I am denied access to my fantasy football website. Urlacher has a dislocated wrist and is out for the season. My quarterback, McNabb, has some busted ribs, and overall, I need some reassurance that I'm not going to nosedive because of the sudden injuries. Luckily, it's just fantasy and it doesn't really mean anything. :)

Happy Wednesday! Less than two weeks!

Pantalón de lluvia

Today it rained .43 inches. It felt like so much more. It was fluctuating between drizzle and power wash mode. Or maybe I was in a washing machine? I don't know. It all happened in a blur.

But I now own rain pants, and I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing them everyday until I go home. After thinking about the overall mental clarity they will provide, along with warmth, I went out and got them. Plus, is $1.75/day all that much to pay for my remaining time here? I think not. And now I can ride my hypothetical motorcycle home if it starts to drizzle. And they make a nice swishy sound. Very good.

All evening I've either had Kodak perched on my chest while I read, or I've watched him keep a vigil at the entrance to my room keeping Bruce from coming in. He owns me. I didn't realize just how protective he has become until tonight. Even now, typing up a storm, he can't be bothered to leave my lap. My left elbow is resting somewhat uncomfortably on his bum.

Speaking of reading, Linda sent me a new book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. So far, an entertaining read. There are some scenes that are a bit uncomfortable, but the main female character is wonderfully original, and the story is starting to get juicy. Two thumbs up so far. I just saw the follow up book at Costco last week. My first impression is that it has great cover art.

The other fun thing that is starting soon is this season's fantasy football draft. It's taking place this Saturday, and through the Superbowl, I'll have one more reason to enjoy watching football on Sundays - watching for my player's stats and (hopefully) winning in the end. Even if I don't win, I love football Sundays. Waking up with coffee and a bowl of cereal, and listing to those silly talking heads blab about who will be amazing in the upcoming games. I'm a sucker for highlight reels, and really, there isn't anything quite like a solid connection between a quarterback and his wide receiver. So excited!

That reminds me of when I knew Sarah and I would be friends: I heard her shouting from down the hallway, some wild obscenities, and when I walked down to see if she was ok, all I saw was her sitting on her couch in her dorm room, screaming at the television. Someone was doing something stupid in the sports world. The next time I heard it, I just walked in and watched it with her. Done. Friends ever since.

Summer solstice

What do you do in Juneau to celebrate the 18 hours and 18 minutes of sunlight at the Summer solstice? Jump into the Gastineau Channel! Or in my case, watch these five goons jump in the channel. It was 1030 at night, I'm down at Sandy Beach, and a car pulls up with these five all excited to freeze their bits off. I stayed in case they needed someone to drive them to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Don't they look excited?

There was a count down, a rush, and then some really funny conversations about needing to be fully submerged or not. The water was in the area of, oh, 45 degrees. I guess the deciding factor for the plunge was the purchase of some new floating devices that needed to be tried out. A bright pink inter tube and mattress looking thing were brought out, and were used for about 3 seconds.

It was a good time. And I'm happy to report that no one needed to be driven to the hospital.

Not much else has been going on. I'm in a pretty reliable routine with work. I'm reading another Dan-recommended book, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. If you haven't read any of Stephenson's stuff, he has a wonderful way of creating settings and characters, and rolling out incredibly complex ideas with a nice blend of subtlty and bluntness.

Here is a view out of my life. At the docks, there are vendors that come each day and hang up all of their signage in hopes of enticing people who didn't purchase tours off of the cruise ships . I believe most of them are working for the same company, as they sell tickets, but the people end up getting on the same buses to go anywhere. When I see them like this, all propped up and waiting to shout out at passers by, it reminds me of puppets from Sesame Street - all of these vendors are stuck in their little windows.

At work, someone has pilfered my beloved coffee cup out of the drying wrack. I have now put up a note asking for it back, in hopes that someone just really needed a coffee cup and will return it when they know it is missed. It went missing the same day as Baxter. I don't want to diminish Baxter's disappearance with something like a coffee cup, but losing both - well, it just sucks.

But lets leave this on a positive note. Dan has regular Internet access now that he's in Dharamsala. I'm not sure of the nuts and bolts, but I'm happier getting to hear from him more often. Less coffee to-go, but more Dan. I'll take it.

MOCCA

It's a long shot, but did any one get to go to this last weekend? I was going through my favorite comics this morning, and came across the poster. If you remember from about a month ago, I was looking into Octopi and this one caught my eye. Maybe next year this time I'll be in New York and can attend! A museum for comic and cartoon art!

Still no Baxter.

My house mates have left for about two weeks. They are over at Carrie's mom's house taking care of some things, so no Bruce, no Carrie, no Jacque. Only one cat in all this space is just weird. Yesterday was particularly hard, as I was really feeling the onset of potentially never seeing B again, and then I got chewed out at the Bema by Julie at Allen Marine for something that I wasn't responsible for. Ug. I was one of three drivers for a whale watching boat, and one of the drivers showed up early (just as bad as showing up late in the tourism world). I was on the road, about five minutes early, and called in to the Bema to see how things were looking. I had plenty of time to do a roll through at the university to take up the time, but they told me to come down. They were frustrated because the first driver was so early and then had to reroute the other two drivers, and I caught the wrath. I just about cried right there in front of all the passengers.

I had to go back to the Bema later and I asked Julie what was going on, and she apologized, but for those four hours in between, I was thinking completely irrationally, contemplating packing up and moving out. I just want my cat back.

The week of sun has passed. Yesterday we had cloudy skies, and today is the same. I like it.

I finished the book American Gods yesterday. I am still processing it, but it was thought provoking. David, I'll talk to you about it for sure.

And to wrap it up today, one of the other drivers gave me a bike! It is an old, red, ten speed. He just had a friend tune it up, put puncture resistant tires on it, and didn't want it anymore. I said, sure I'll take it! It's only 4 miles to the shop from my house, and all bike friendly road. I need to get a light and fenders (as it rains tons), but other than that, it's perfect! He wouldn't take anything for it, so I'm trying to think of something to do for him. It's just too great a gift.

Up for air.

And just like that, I've worked 67 hours in a week. How quickly it adds up! This is more my pace. This is what I signed up for.

...

Back in March, I went up to Chicago with Dan for his spring break. Before leaving, his mom gave me a book to read called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I blew through it earlier this week. Linda said it had some incredible ideas in it, possibly some that may help me in spreading word about my coffee shop, when ever it comes to fruition. Part of me expected it to explore business strategies, but I was way off. This book is incredible. It has nothing to do with money. It's about people.

Days after finishing, I'm still buzzing from it. Gladwell takes several examples, such as the sudden popularity of Hush Puppies and the rapid decrease of crime in New York City in the 1990's to talk about how cultural epidemics are started. He talks about how small notions can have huge effects, and when those notions get in the hands of specific types of people, the outcome can be even bigger than seems possible.

I don't want to write a book report, so I'll just say this: this book is worth reading. It has gotten me interested in a whole world of group psychology that I never thought I would look into.

The tourism industry is fascinating. I see 140,000 people flood into Juneau, and 150 of those intimately, on my bus, face to face, everyday. Not only am I responsible for keeping the bus under control when I'm driving, but also the moods of 50 people. The amount of emotion shuffling and juggling is incredible. One person's mood can "infect" the rest, good mood or bad. I'm doing quite a bit of thinking of the negative situations, where one person would turn the rest of my passenger's against me, and what I would do about it.

My opening speech when everyone is sitting and waiting to leave the dock is a powerful moment. It's really the only time I'm facing the group. It's like the first day of class where the teacher sets the tone. I have one chance to let these people know they are going to have a good time. They hope they are, but I need to prove it, and prove it quickly. Some may be angry they didn't get the front seat, some may be uncomfortable, some may not have gotten the tour they wanted. Regardless, I need to make them forget all that. I've gotten pretty good at my pitch pointsin that first five minutes I'm given to do my "safety speech." What happens in those five minutes? What is it that I've gotten good at? Tone, humor, competence?

In the time these 150 people are with me, I share a lot of information. Like a good mix CD, I switch speed and tone, between facts and tid bits, long stories and short, keeping them from zoning out. There are jokes, I laugh into the microphone, and more times then I can count, people comment about it. I have one long story and sometimes, after my long 6 hour tours, the last 10 minute stretch is just quiet, letting them enjoy the road vibration and the warm sleepy feeling of being worn out. Every tour is different. But they all start with that first five minutes.

I'd love for you all to ride my bus.

...

In other news:

• I got the go a head to move from my land lord. He found someone to fill my lease, so starting June, I'll be over on Douglas Island again. Yay! No address yet, but I will post it when I know it.

• My Achilles tendon seems to be healing, thankfully, without going to the doctor. I'm not running yet, but with my nightly stretching and longish walks on flat ground, it seems to be better. No more pain at least.
  

...

And on a more personal note, Dan leaves for India on Sunday and will be gone until July 21st. Everything has been so sporadic, with our conversations being a hybrid of text messages and short calls, with a long one here and there. He'll be 13 hours ahead of Alaska time, so this will be a challenging few weeks. But, he'll get back, then he's coming here! Sometime in August I get a Dan-sized package on an airplane!