build a snowman

holidays are for lovers

2005-12-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of being at my parents house, and I've got another week and a half to go. I'm not really sure why I decided that three weeks would be ok this year; I think I just wanted to spend time with my niece. That's been great, she's absolutely adorable. But there's nothing to do here but watch tv. I've been knitting a lot (I'm working on socks right now), I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha, and I just started working on reorganizing some old photos that my grandmother started. She put them in albums, but there are pictures from before I was born right next to my baby pictures, and they're ll stacked on top of eachother. I feel like I'm putting on weight fast. It's so hard to meet people here. I don't really want to go out by myself, and going out with my brother and his fiance feels too much like they're doing me a favor. The funny thing is I'd be bored out of my mind at home, too since all my friends would have gone out of town. My solution is this: I'm going to go stay in a hostel for new years eve. It'll give me a chance to explore portland a bit on my own, and to meet some people my own age. This was suggested by a friend as a way to have a fling. I'm not counting on that, but at least it'll be throwing the start of a new year out to the unknown.

narnia

2005-12-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

So, I've been meaning to post a few words about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe all weekend, but I was busy, then sick. We went to see it on Friday, and I thought it was FANTASTIC. I thought everyone was extremely well cast, and it goes a little bit beyond that. Very seldom do I see a movie based on a book that I've read that has actors that look the way I pictured the characters to look. This movie was exceptional; Edmund looked exactly how I had always pictured him, and Lucy was pretty damn close.
I think the movie followed the book quite well. There were a few minor changes, but they were warranted. I was reminded by a friend that Aslan actually tells the girls in the book that their weapons are for defensive purposes only, that they were not meant to fight. These lines are left out of the film, and Susan actually gets to fire a shot, which didn't happen in the book if I remember correctly. Taking that into consideration, the film does make an attempt rectify the extremely gendered nature of the book. I still found the gender roles (the girls were nothing but healers) tiresome and slightly offensive, but I believe they did what they could without completely altering the story.
That said, the only thing that I didn't really like was what they did with the white witch. The actress was perfect for the role, no problems there. I just wish that they had done a little bit more to play down the pagan woman vs christian man aspect in the film. This was definitely present in the novel, but they could have toned it down a bit. To be more specific, the witch didn't need to have dreadlocks. I was actually really torn because I thought they looked really cool, but they also represent a very specific subgroup in our culture.
I am not Christian, but I love this story, and I recommend the movie whole-heartedly to just about anyone. I think it's interesting that the majority of blogs that I've read about the movie say they wish they'd played up the Christian connection a bit more (funny because CS Lewis doesn't mention Christ in the novel at all), or that the film is the best thing to happen for Evangelicals since The Passion of the Christ. I don't think it's even comparable to the Passion, which I have not seen on principal. The story is valuable, whether you believe the Christ was the Son of God and should be worshipped as such, or not. It makes me sad that people are looking to this film as a tool to bring more people to Christ. Perhaps I'm being controversial... but then, that's why I have this space, to voice my opinions. I also think that if the book had been writen by anyone other than Lewis, people would not be making as big of a deal out of the allegory. Lewis is well known as a Christian writer, so people pay more attention to the allegory in his other works. I suspect that some people who are celebrating the movie as an evangelical tool might have taken issue with the lord of the rings... magic, etc. But the Lord of the Rings was every bit as much of an allegory as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, if not more. Maybe not. But I definitely didn't hear people praising LOR as an evangelical tool.

Ghost Works

2005-12-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you for taking the time to look. This week’s questions are simply to get things started. They are about blogging and memes.

What first got you started blogging? I first started blogging in the fall of 2001 because my best friend had a diaryland journal. She lived in another city, so we didn't get to talk that much or compare writing. I started a diaryland account so that she could see some of my writing too.
How often do you post to your blog? I post at least once a week, usually.
Do you have more than one blog and if so, how are they each different? I do have more than one blog. I currently have this one, and a myspace account. This one is all my ramblings about things that I think are significant. It's not exactly a journal. My myspace account is basically to keep up with friends without sending mass emails, so it takes a more"this is what's happening in my life" tone. I usually don't post any memes there.
Where did you first hear about memes? Well, I've known about them for a while, but didn't know they were called memes until recently.
Do you remember the first meme you participated in and if so, what was it? Heck no.
Do you run any memes yourself and if so what are they? nope.
How did you find this meme? thedailymeme.com

Thanks for playing.

You may say I'm a dreamer...

2005-12-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

I caught a snatch of Yoko on the radio today. It was the end of an interview, soon to be replaced by "Give Peace a Chance", and "Real Love". One of my musician friends on myspace posted a bulletin, a reminder that he probably did more for what we're all trying to do than anyone. I consider myself a part of that we, even though the things I produce and create are not musical. I had to post something today, especially since people used to call me the Beatles girl. I used to wear Beatles t-shirts at least once a week. They work well with black converse. Ah, highschool. Can't say I really miss it. I still own all my Beatles albums, and a few t-shirts, though. A black one with the picture of John in his New York t-shirt and the famous imagine quote on the back. John Lennon definitely had an impact on me during formative years. Even though he died a few short months after I was born. I was listening to Rubber Soul and Abbey Road while my classmates were toying with the idea of moving to Seattle to pay their respects to Kurt Cobain. I felt quite alone in my fascination in those days. I realize now, though, that I truly was not the only one. I am glad that I was born in 1980, and that John Lennon was still alive for at least a small portion of my life.

john lennon

More on Harry Potter!

2005-11-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

So, I was just browsing some blogs and found some one who was as unimpressed (if not more) by the new Harry Potter film as myself. This one also includes a bit of commentary on Walk the Line, which I have yet to see, and some interesting looking links... mmm... links.

Drunken Tune

Monday Madness

2005-11-28T13:15:00.001-08:00

Monday Madness
1. I've always been afraid of _sharks__.
2. People should not talk on cell phones while _out with friends_.
3. The one thing I look forward to every day is _getting mail_.
4. My first meal of the day usually consists of _frosted mini-wheats_.
5. It seems like cleaning is a never-ending job.
6. The last time I painted a room in my house/apartment was in 2001/2, on Luther St.
7. The next time I paint, I'd like to paint my kitchen dark red.

Free Association

2005-11-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

1. Stuffed:: mushroom
2. Armstrong:: Lance
3. Bruise:: purple
4. Content:: Table
5. Musical:: Sheet Music
6. Assistance:: Wheelchair
7. Scrambling:: Kitten on a countertop
8. Battle:: Bots
9. Extended:: Ears
10. Discount:: tires

http://subliminal.lunanina.com

the nauseating stench of the loft

2005-11-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder if my writing reads to others the way some other people sound to me. One of my friends is a perfect example. It's not just her writing, I guess. I often feel like she looks down on the rest of the world for not living as perfectly as she thinks she does. Then when she writes... it's like she is trying to sound lofty. Kind of like my journals in high school that I wrote with the intention of sounding like something I'm not. I hope someone, someday, will call me on my bullshit if I ever start to sound full of it in my writing. I just have a hard time reading things that are clearly playing to an audience in a patronizing way... A lot of it is a by-product of buying into things too easily, I think. The rest is a direct result of an "the best way to fight the system is to live outside of it" mentality. Which, to me, is silly.

One Word

2005-11-26T18:07:00.000-08:00

It was a clear pane of glass, broken into shards. They turned blue at a touch and ran through my fingers like knifes. Red, purple. I tried to explain it when the wind came through the gaping hole in the wall, but it was too much. Tackle it without thought, take this grain by grain by slimybloody pieces of glass.

Pane

Meeting New People

2005-11-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

A small rant here. I just got off the phone with my mom. I was observing that all of my friends are no longer single, which sucks because I still am. I mean, I still hang out with them, but I no longer have the sorts of friendships that I'm used to and I'm starting to think that at my age getting into a relationship may be the only way I'm going to get that sort of friendship again. But now what? I am a very active person, yet I don't seem to be meeting anyone new. My mom suggested volunteering or taking classes, which sounds good, but I think I do enough already that should be working to my advantage. Shouldn't I be making new friends (if not dating new people)? I rock climb; I meet people at the rock gym all the time, but don't really think of any of them as friends. That or they are in relationships already, which is the problem I have with the friends I have now. I swing dance, but that's ceased to be a productive method of meeting people-- I already know everyone there. Since I've been in Austin I've worked at the YMCA, and student taught at Reagan High School. I took Yoga, I played soccer, I hang out at coffee shops. None of these things have generated any new, lasting friendships. The only thing that has done this is hanging out at the co-op I used to live at. But I'm trying to moved beyond that. I may go back to boarding there in the spring, but I don't think it will be a good way to meet new people. I'd be like Matthew McConaughy's character on Dazed and Confused: "That's what I like about high school girls: I keep getting older, they stay the same age". Really, what am I supposed to do? I feel like I should be doing something, but I'm at a loss. I'm about at a point where I might just go to church with Kristen to get some new blood flowing into my social world. Which is a horrible reason to go to church. I feel very alone.

Harry Potter/Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally saw Harry Potter last night. It was fun, but I am amazed at how many people have been giving it great ratings (10 out of 10, etc). Yes, the book was too long to fit into a two and a half hour movie. Of course they had to cut some stuff out. But why they cut out certain explanatory bits and left in the bit where Malfoy is transfigured into a ferret and bounced around by Mad-Eye Moody is beyond me. Yes, the ferret thing was funny, but I think it would have been nice to explain that Fleur is part Veela instead of just letting Ron look like he'd turned into a complete idiot over her for no reason. Also, some of the changes they made dumbed the movie down a bit. I think it was much easier to figure out who was behind it all and what was going on in the movie than in the book, mostly because he was clearly responsible for certain turns of events in the movie. In the book there are other people involved and the responsibility is a bit harder to trace. Whatever, it was still fun. Makes me want to read book 5.

I went over to my friends house at 9:30 yesterday morning. We had a fantastic breakfast in their backyard, then went over to their family's house for thanksgiving dinner. After sitting around there and knitting for a little while, we went over to another friends family home and had pumpkin creme brulee for dessert. Fantastic. I also heard from some old friends yesterday, which is always nice, but especially so on a holiday. I'm staying as far away from the malls as possible today. Maybe I'll rent a movie...

harry potter

Family Values

2005-11-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Aparently there is a family in Arkansas (gasp!) that recently gave birth to it's 16th baby since 1984. That's right, sixteen kids, all under age 17. The family even has a webpage, and if you look around a bit, you'll notice that husband Jim Bob was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and actually ran for US Senate. The Duggars are, of course, extremely religious and believe that they are doing God's bidding by having craploads of kids. Hmmm. Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about this in October. It's located somewhere on this website. Morford's article is extremely opinionated and far from my own style of writing, but I do agree with some of what he says. Here is an excerpt which I found particularly interesting:

Perhaps the point is this: Why does this sort of bizarre hyperbreeding only seem to afflict antiseptic megareligious families from the Midwest? In other words -- assuming Michelle and Jim Bob and their massive brood of cookie-cutter Christian kidbots will all be, as the charming photo suggests, never allowed near a decent pair of designer jeans or a tolerable haircut from a recent decade, and assuming that they will all be tragically encoded with the values of the homophobic asexual Christian right -- where are the forces that shall help neutralize their effect on the culture? Where is the counterbalance, to offset the damage?

Where is, in other words, the funky tattooed intellectual poetess who, along with her genius anarchist husband, is popping out 16 funky progressive intellectually curious fashion-forward pagan offspring to answer the Duggar's squad of über-white future Wal-Mart shoppers? Where is the liberal, spiritualized, pro-sex flip side? Verily I say unto thee, it ain't lookin' good.

It's an interesting thing to think about. I have for years thought to myself that I would like to have one child of my own, but would adopt after that, if I felt the need to have more kiddos milling around. I think it was only this year that I was struck by the realization that the reason that stupid people (don't misread this as a slam against Christianity, that's not what I'm about) abound in these United States is that, most of the time, they are the ones breeding. I mentioned this to my mom and she told me that was the reason my grandparents had so many kids. My Dad was one of 6 (doesn't compare to 16, I know), and both of his parents were doctors. They purportedly decided to have a large family to help maintain a certain level of intellegence in modern day America (my words, not theirs). Interestingly enough, 3 out of the 6 are doctors. One is a physical therapist, one is a presbyterian minister, and one runs his own non-profit business.

A list of books

2005-11-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

Bold those you've read. Italicize those you haven't finished. Underline those you own.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The DUrbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. Georges Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlottes Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Raft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
302. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, URI Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L’Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster loved
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Misery, Stephen King
374. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
375. Hood, Emma Donoghue
376. The Land of Spices, Kate O’Brien
377. The Diary of Anne Frank
378. Regeneration, Pat Barker
379. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
380. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
381. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
382. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
383. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
384. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
385. A Severed Wasp - Madeleine LEngle
386. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman
387. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) - translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
388. The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
389. Desire of the Everlasting Hills - Thomas Cahill
390. The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
391. The Things We Carried, Tim O’Brien
392. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
393. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
394. Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
395. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
396. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
397. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
398. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L’Engle
399. Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy
400. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
401. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
402. The Bridge, Iain Banks
403. How to Be Good, Nick Hornby
404. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
405. A Map of the World, Jane Hamilton
406. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
407. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket
408. I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson

I couldn't underline any of them. Where did this list come from? Some of these books are kind of obscure... and some are ones that everyone has read. Hmmmm....

Little Bear

2005-11-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've gone into hibernation mode or something. Which doesn't really make sense because it's hardly cold outside right now. But really, I got plenty of sleep last night; I went to bed around 11, and I woke up at 10. 11 hours. Pretty indulgent, right? I guess I was awake for a couple hours of that, though, because of cats and roomates. Anyway, I woke up and went about my day. I went out for a walk, some coffee, and lunch, and came back about 1:30. I read for a little while when I got back, but ended up taking an afternoon nap. I'm usually a terrible napper! Yet this is becoming a trend. It's Wednesday; am I really still catching up from this weekend? That's madness. I do think I've been sitting at my computer too much lately, though. My left wrist is starting to feel kind of achey. Bad sign, bad sign.

GROW

2005-11-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

I beat Grow! I had forgotten how addicting that game was. If you've never played it, check it (and the various other addicting games) out at www.eyemaze.com. As you can by now tell, I have way too much free time on my hands right now, especially with it being a holiday week. I'm only working a couple of hours a day at the moment. I'll be my normal busy self again soon, though, especially once I start school. I'll never be heard from again!
I really do think I've gone into hibernation mode since the Austin Exchange this weekend. I guess dancing non-stop with very little sleep will do that to you. I barely want to leave my house right now. Justine yelled at me for never having read Pride and Prejudice (she's a member of the Jane Austen Society), and I kind of promised her I would. I just started this other book, though, The Garden. It's adolescent lit, though, so it shouldn't take me too long. And I've got my sweater to be working on too.
I wonder if we're going to have a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow instead of Thursday. My friends have family to go to, mine lives far away. So we were thinking about celebrating on Weds since they can't get out of their familial obligations. It would be nice... I've gotten pretty good at celebrating holidays on the wrong day.

Dead Things and Jane Austen

2005-11-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

So, for the past two days my route from home to coffehouse has been littered with dead creatures: a pigeon, a grackle, a squirrel. It's not a very long walk, so that's a lot. The creepiest thing is I saw the pigeon walking around, looking sickly, on my way to the coffee shop the other day, and by the time I returned it was dead. It's been lying there ever since, and I don't have any intention of moving it. Which may mean I'll have to stop walking so damn much because I'm sure it will start to rot and smell soon.

I went to see Pride and Prejudice last night. It was about what I expected; dramatizations of 19th century novels never really do it for me, even when I like the author. I haven't actually read Pride and Prejudice, but I'm sure I would like it as I did not dislike the movie, and I enjoy reading Jane Austen.

Before we went to the movie we went to Lovejoy's, drank beer and whiskey sours, and talked about child abuse and molestation. Good times, good times.

Tuesday Morning Cold

2005-11-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

1. Do you like the colder weather, or are you into the hotter weather?
Well, I live in Texas, so I tolerate the heat fairly well, but I prefer the cold.

2. What is your favorite thing about winter?
Blankets and sweaters.

3. Do you have a favorite comfy, cozy lounging around outfit?
Old sweatshirts and flannel pajama pants

4. What’s your favorite warm drink when it is just too cold out there?
Apple Cider. Mmmm. Think I'm going to go make some right now.

Take Me Back Tuesday

2005-11-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Name three songs containing the word or the idea of thanks or greatfulness.

Chelsea Morning- Joni Mitchell
Home Again-Adam Carroll
Song of the South-Alabama

Name three artists you are thankful to have in your various collections.
Ani DiFranco
Dar Williams
Elliott Smith

Name three albums you are thankful that you received from someone. (Yourself counts as a someone)
Empire Records, vol 2 (custom made for me by a good friend)
"Mason Jennings" by Mason Jennings
"If You're Feeling Sinister" by Belle & Sebastian

Between the Flowers

2005-11-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished a new book, Between the Flowers, by Harriette Simpson Arnow. Written in the 1930's, this book remained unpublished until recently. It was an enjoyable read, especially from a feminist view. The main character, Delph, is a strong woman who marries a "roving oil man", hoping he will take her away from the Kentucky hills where she spent her childhood. The plan is to go to South America, but they end up staying in Kentucky. Marsh, her husband, buys a farm, and she ends up bound to the land and stuck in a society that has never suited her, which she always intended to leave.
I was admittedly a little put off at first, it seemed like it was 90% dialectical dialogue (oh pshaw delph) but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked. The dialogue died down and it was just Kentucky. They even mentioned saddle horses, which is a first for any book I've ever read. 5-gaited saddlehorses at that. The book was intense at times, and also bordered on predictable, due largely in part to heavy-handed foreshadowing. I thought the ending was a bit weak, but I won't discuss it here in case anyone actually reads this and decides to give this book a shot. Overall, I liked it, and do not hesitate to recommend it to others

I've got the kind of beauty that moves...

2005-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

I fully intended to go back to sleep this morning, but I started thinking about last night and I just couldn't. It amazes me how tactless people can be, especially people who are supposed to be like family. Last night I was looking at some photos one of my friends took of me dancing. I said that I didn't really like what my bangs were doing in the picture, that I'm not happy with them right now. I should know by now not to say things like that to her, it just gives her a chance to lay into my appearance. Aparently my bangs look horrible because they are too short. I think they're too long, they get in my eyes. She also informed me that they looked better when I first got them cut and that I should let them grow out.

I break now, for a little background. I have been a non-conformist since birth. I got kicked out of ballet when I was three because I refused to do what they were asking me to do and insisted upon doing a shuffle step my dad had taught me a few days before. I went as a roll of toilet paper for halloween in seventh grade. I've been wearing converse for almost as long as I can remember. Generally I embrace a "fuck the bullshit, I do what I want attitude". However, looks are deceiving, and I think I look a lot more conservative than I am. I also look about 18, when in reality I'm twenty five. I reek innocence no matter what I do.

My bangs, initially, were started in hopes of keeping me from chopping the rest of my hair off. I go through stages where I try to grow my hair out, but I eventually get fed up somewhere in that middle length stage and chop it. This time I opted for a different technique. I can't quite pull off the betty page short bangs, but that's what I aspire to. I did not choose bangs because they are trendy, and I shy away from the long sweeping bangs that fall down to ones cheekbones. This "friend" doesn't seem to understand or know me well enough to realize that I don't want that.

It is so difficult, when faced with condescending, judgemental criticism, to stand ones ground. This is not the first time she's said something like this to me, in fact, she's said worse. I wish I were thick-skinned enough to just let it go by me, but I'm not. I get frustrated sometimes. But I am hard-headed enough to stick to my ideals; she has yet to change a damn thing about me. I firmly believe that there is more beauty in the world than what the media would have you believe, and I don't think I need to change my appearance to fit in. I don't fit in most places. I will never claim the high-fashion set, I don't read glossy magazines. And, although I consider myself to be a counter-culturist, a gypsy-punk girl at heart, I don't quite match up with the punk rock aesthetic either. I maintain my I do what I want stance; I do not buy into anything whole-heartedly these days. I wear converse and I knit my own sweaters. I listen to independent music and have bangs. But I'm more complex than that--- I drive a truck and work on a farm at the same time. And "I only surround myself with people who I find intellectually stimulating". Maybe someday it will pay off...

Just the beginning

2005-11-21T04:39:00.000-08:00

It's currently 6:45 am. Definitely too early to be awake and doing nothing, and since I am required by my job to just sit and wait, I might as well get this thing going. Usually I have a bit more to say, but, since I was dancing ALL weekend, and it's now 6:41 am, my brain is a bit foggy. My eyes are a bit too dry for me to truly desire to stare at this screen much longer.