Ever get something in your head that you just can't get out. Set you mind on something you want to do and can't focus on anything else.
Peter and I are there. I guess you could group everything into 1 category 'yuppie-dom', but i prefer to think of each entity seperately, and alone. Makes me feel less selfish and guilty.
1. A new car - done! We've been talking and talking for months and months. The plan was to wait until this summer and buy get something then. However wouldn't you know it - this Explorer LEASE deal came along that seemed too good to be true. Well it pretty much was an awesome deal, so we have accomplished 1 out of 3.
2. A HOUSE. Note that i did not say a home. We have a lovely home. My mom has the greatest pillow that says "home is where your honey is." We couldn't agree more. But screw that - we want a HOUSE. A backyard, a porch, stairs, somewhere to grow herbs and veggies and flowers, a lawn to cut. We want it all, and we want it NOW.
3. A baby. Now some of us are more anxious than others. Well thats not entirely true, but it typically feels that way. One of us was more anxious 6 months ago, and now the tables have turned. Either way - this too falls in this category of things we don't have that we obsesss over on a daily basis.
4. My personal obsession...a new job / career / paying focus on life. Daily i am frustrated for what a moron the people I work with think I am. Why can't they just understand that i no longer care...appathay is so much different for crap work, than the incapacity to do it! H.e.l.l.o! The problem is -i really don't have to work that hard on a regular basis. I get to work from home a lot, and on the road. So through interviewing, i've learned that i am quite spoiled. Which doesn't help when your at a cross-roads and want to make a change. Bummer
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
say what?
So this past Wednesday after too far of a drive, to dine at a restaurant that no longer exists. Some co-workers and I settled on a regular Chinese place. I opted out of crispy beef for healthier shrimp lettuce wraps. Little did I know that they were magic lettuce wraps, capable of making me loose 10 lbs in 2 days.
Come 6pm that night i began booting in the porcelain pot. Ironically, as I was doing so my dear husband was eating my lunch left overs. Why neither of us educated and well employed individuals thought this might be a bad idea, is beyond me. 3 hours later, he's utilizing the other full bath. Thank the lord we opted for the 2 bathroom condo. New home-owners beware. For reasons i will not get into 1 and 1/2 bath would not have been enough. Those of you that have had bad bout of food poisoning know what I’m talking about and that should be enough said.
Needless to say the 24 hour rule pretty much held true. At the 25th hour bodily fluids were again under my control. I didn't feel good by any means until 1 day later, but the whole control issue is nice.
That brings us to today. We split and apple and some ride pudding for breakfast. By lunch we were feeling good enough for....McDonalds. (please refer to paragraph 2, sent 3)
Come 6pm that night i began booting in the porcelain pot. Ironically, as I was doing so my dear husband was eating my lunch left overs. Why neither of us educated and well employed individuals thought this might be a bad idea, is beyond me. 3 hours later, he's utilizing the other full bath. Thank the lord we opted for the 2 bathroom condo. New home-owners beware. For reasons i will not get into 1 and 1/2 bath would not have been enough. Those of you that have had bad bout of food poisoning know what I’m talking about and that should be enough said.
Needless to say the 24 hour rule pretty much held true. At the 25th hour bodily fluids were again under my control. I didn't feel good by any means until 1 day later, but the whole control issue is nice.
That brings us to today. We split and apple and some ride pudding for breakfast. By lunch we were feeling good enough for....McDonalds. (please refer to paragraph 2, sent 3)
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Book Club - Time Travelers Wife
I love, LOVE LOVE to read. Always have, hope I always will. For the past few years I have been reading away. Some good, most horrible. Then it hit me. Everyone has at least 3 unforgetable books that they love...why not spam 'em and collect them. So i did and my horrible book days are now over. However shortly after, I then longed to discuss them. I loved lit classes in school and though peter and I try and share a book or two, we always read one after the other and have yet, to suck it up and purchase 2 of the same book. Its just seems silly...but i guess the argument could then be make for librarys...i digress.
Suburban me created a book club. Of people from work, a friend of a friend and strangers from the net. We've only met once, but I really enjoy reading with purpose again.
This month we chose 'Time Travelers Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. Its good. I won't say its great, but at times I do laugh out loud and my heart soars and sinks with the characters. Great to me makes me want to change my world. Virgin Blue - i spent days searching for villa's in Provance, Like Water for Chocolate - I began to write my memoirs and dream of family recipes to include. (That was until I realized that those same family recipies topped off at burnt toast and butter.)
Alas, my own little question and answer section...
1. In The Time Traveler's Wife , the characters meet each other at various times during their lifetime. How does the author keep all the timelines in order and "on time"?
I like the way AN keeps up processing though the here and now...for the most part the story is told by clare's timeline. Having some sort of constant is needed in such a confusing story line. I can appreciate how difficult this must have been to weave. For the book is like a treasure map. You learn as you go, sometimes having to return and take a few steps back, but in the end, you knew what you were going to get, but somehow...it seems like more now.
2. Although Henry does the time traveling, Clare is equally impacted. How does she cope with his journeys and does she ultimately accept them?
I think clares acceptance is similar to that of most women today. I and my husband travel for work on a regular basis and he more often to visit his children. Though neither of us have returned battered phyisically, the emotial flux of being apart without the ability to return to the arms that love you can be quite painful. In addition, the battering that is done on the soul, while apart for what ever reason is painful when faced with it on your own. By not being able to convey the thoughts / feelings of the days missed and the consequesnces of the actions taken while away, I in part feel like I have time traveled over a portion of our lives which can never be returned to me.
3. How does the writer introduce the reader to the concept of time travel as a realistic occurrence? Does she succeed?
I can appreciated AN attempt at making the concept of time travel realistic, however for me...it was unecessary and kinda silly. With her writing i was easily able to be absorbed and didn't care how it happened or why ~ i just enjoyed that it did. However, that being said, the first question peter asked when I told him that it was about a man that traveled through time to visit his wife was...how's he do it?
4. Henry's life is disrupted on multiple levels by spontaneous time travel. How does his career as a librarian offset his tumultuous disappearances? Why does that job appeal to Henry?
5. Henry and Clare know each other for years before they fall in love as adults. How does Clare cope with the knowledge that at a young age she knows that Henry is the man she will eventually marry?
6. The Time Traveler's Wife is ultimately an enduring love story. What trials and tribulations do Henry and Clare face that are the same as or different from other "normal" relationships?
7. How does their desire for a child affect their relationship?
8. The book is told from both Henry and Clare's perspectives. What does this add to the story?
9. Do you think the ending of the novel is satisfactory?
10. Though history there have been dozens of mediums used for time travel in literature. Please cite examples and compare The Time Traveler's Wife to the ones with which you are familiar.
Suburban me created a book club. Of people from work, a friend of a friend and strangers from the net. We've only met once, but I really enjoy reading with purpose again.
This month we chose 'Time Travelers Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. Its good. I won't say its great, but at times I do laugh out loud and my heart soars and sinks with the characters. Great to me makes me want to change my world. Virgin Blue - i spent days searching for villa's in Provance, Like Water for Chocolate - I began to write my memoirs and dream of family recipes to include. (That was until I realized that those same family recipies topped off at burnt toast and butter.)
Alas, my own little question and answer section...
1. In The Time Traveler's Wife , the characters meet each other at various times during their lifetime. How does the author keep all the timelines in order and "on time"?
I like the way AN keeps up processing though the here and now...for the most part the story is told by clare's timeline. Having some sort of constant is needed in such a confusing story line. I can appreciate how difficult this must have been to weave. For the book is like a treasure map. You learn as you go, sometimes having to return and take a few steps back, but in the end, you knew what you were going to get, but somehow...it seems like more now.
2. Although Henry does the time traveling, Clare is equally impacted. How does she cope with his journeys and does she ultimately accept them?
I think clares acceptance is similar to that of most women today. I and my husband travel for work on a regular basis and he more often to visit his children. Though neither of us have returned battered phyisically, the emotial flux of being apart without the ability to return to the arms that love you can be quite painful. In addition, the battering that is done on the soul, while apart for what ever reason is painful when faced with it on your own. By not being able to convey the thoughts / feelings of the days missed and the consequesnces of the actions taken while away, I in part feel like I have time traveled over a portion of our lives which can never be returned to me.
3. How does the writer introduce the reader to the concept of time travel as a realistic occurrence? Does she succeed?
I can appreciated AN attempt at making the concept of time travel realistic, however for me...it was unecessary and kinda silly. With her writing i was easily able to be absorbed and didn't care how it happened or why ~ i just enjoyed that it did. However, that being said, the first question peter asked when I told him that it was about a man that traveled through time to visit his wife was...how's he do it?
4. Henry's life is disrupted on multiple levels by spontaneous time travel. How does his career as a librarian offset his tumultuous disappearances? Why does that job appeal to Henry?
5. Henry and Clare know each other for years before they fall in love as adults. How does Clare cope with the knowledge that at a young age she knows that Henry is the man she will eventually marry?
6. The Time Traveler's Wife is ultimately an enduring love story. What trials and tribulations do Henry and Clare face that are the same as or different from other "normal" relationships?
7. How does their desire for a child affect their relationship?
8. The book is told from both Henry and Clare's perspectives. What does this add to the story?
9. Do you think the ending of the novel is satisfactory?
10. Though history there have been dozens of mediums used for time travel in literature. Please cite examples and compare The Time Traveler's Wife to the ones with which you are familiar.
Monday, March 06, 2006
oddness
So the last of my grandparents just passed away last week. Apparently it happened last Monday night in her sleep. I didn't go home for the funeral, but my man and I did celebrate Grandma Minnie in our own little way. I made Albanian cheese pies and we drank ouzo. However I'm writing to share the oddness which surrounds my family and death.
A few years ago I had the most bizarre and beautiful dream. I dreamt that my maternal grandmother (Grandma Betty) who had passed a few years ago, asked me to speak with my paternal grandmother (Grandma Lois), currently living with Alzheimer's. Of course I say ok and proceed down this hallway. At the end, I opened a door to the sun-room of my family's club. It was her favorite room in the world. (Every Easter she would prefer to eat in there rather than the ballroom and if tables weren't set up, she would just sit and feel beautiful in the warm sunlight, while we all ran around chasing Easter eggs.) We chatted for what in dream-world felt like hours. I told her how much fun it was living in DC. What motorcades were like, the non-profit work I did, about my roommate, the new man I met and loved, his children, etc. EVERYTHING. (She's been in a home for years and sadly, after a particularly painful visit, I never returned. ) Finally she kissed me on the cheek and said good night. I got up and walked away - back out of the sunroom and down the dark hall. As I was leaving I woke up with tears. Quasi happy cathartic tears. I woke up Peter and tell him about my dream. I particularlly remember saying - its almost like I said goodbye to her. He tells me that sweet - pats me on the head, and we go back to sleep.
The next morning around 10 am, I receive a call from my mother telling me that my grandmother passed away last night in her sleep.
That’s probably my favorite my-granparents-are-still-there story. But due to recent events a smaller, but equally impacting event happened.
Last week I was in San Diego on business. On Monday I had a late/late lunch with some co-workers. We had made a special trip to the Hotel Del on Coronado Island. Somewhere towards the end of the meal I made an odd comment about how I had this overwhelming feeling that my father or grandfather was going to come up from behind me and rest his hand on my shoulder. I don't know why, but I almost felt as it had already happened. Somehow within seconds I felt cold, hot, then calmed. It was if someone had told me it was all going to be ok. But I was beyond fine and having a great time in San Diego, so I didn't get it.
Since returning from San Diego, I have had to deal my step-grandmothers passing, problems with my man and his past, my kitty getting a hysterectomy by a butcher and too much at work for one person to deal with.
Oh to behold the knowledge of life, before you have to experience its pains!
A few years ago I had the most bizarre and beautiful dream. I dreamt that my maternal grandmother (Grandma Betty) who had passed a few years ago, asked me to speak with my paternal grandmother (Grandma Lois), currently living with Alzheimer's. Of course I say ok and proceed down this hallway. At the end, I opened a door to the sun-room of my family's club. It was her favorite room in the world. (Every Easter she would prefer to eat in there rather than the ballroom and if tables weren't set up, she would just sit and feel beautiful in the warm sunlight, while we all ran around chasing Easter eggs.) We chatted for what in dream-world felt like hours. I told her how much fun it was living in DC. What motorcades were like, the non-profit work I did, about my roommate, the new man I met and loved, his children, etc. EVERYTHING. (She's been in a home for years and sadly, after a particularly painful visit, I never returned. ) Finally she kissed me on the cheek and said good night. I got up and walked away - back out of the sunroom and down the dark hall. As I was leaving I woke up with tears. Quasi happy cathartic tears. I woke up Peter and tell him about my dream. I particularlly remember saying - its almost like I said goodbye to her. He tells me that sweet - pats me on the head, and we go back to sleep.
The next morning around 10 am, I receive a call from my mother telling me that my grandmother passed away last night in her sleep.
That’s probably my favorite my-granparents-are-still-there story. But due to recent events a smaller, but equally impacting event happened.
Last week I was in San Diego on business. On Monday I had a late/late lunch with some co-workers. We had made a special trip to the Hotel Del on Coronado Island. Somewhere towards the end of the meal I made an odd comment about how I had this overwhelming feeling that my father or grandfather was going to come up from behind me and rest his hand on my shoulder. I don't know why, but I almost felt as it had already happened. Somehow within seconds I felt cold, hot, then calmed. It was if someone had told me it was all going to be ok. But I was beyond fine and having a great time in San Diego, so I didn't get it.
Since returning from San Diego, I have had to deal my step-grandmothers passing, problems with my man and his past, my kitty getting a hysterectomy by a butcher and too much at work for one person to deal with.
Oh to behold the knowledge of life, before you have to experience its pains!
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