Better Than Dead

Random quote of the day:

“A book of mine is always a matter of fate. There is something unpredictable about the process of writing, and I cannot prescribe for myself any predetermined course.”

—Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

*A fortune cookie which has helped decide at least five careers in the arts that I know of.

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Random quote of the day:

“Can any book represent all of one culture? Need it? Should we suppress books that include Irish drunks, Italian gangsters, ghetto gangs, even if accurate, because they do not adequately represent the many who are abstemious, law-abiding, upwardly mobile?”

—Anna Quindlen, “Public and Private: Two World Views,”
The New York Times, June 29, 1994

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Feb 15
And then there’s my shredded Achilles tendon…People grimace when they see me limping down the hall.

Feb 15
“Seek simplicity and distrust it.” —Alfred North Whitehead said. Simplicity is sounding real good right about now. Mom’s escalating pain issues have led to a rush MRI this afternoon, maybe a bone scan.

Feb 15
New favorite indie bookstore name: Libros Schmibros

Feb 16
Back in the ER with Mom. I think I’ll start bonking my head now.

Feb 16
They admitted her. Not life threatening, I don’t think.

Feb 17
Is life anything more than a series of disappointed hopes?

Feb 17
I turn on the TV to distract myself and the first thing I hear is Sally Kirkland saying, “She died at 97.” The opening to Paper Hearts.



Feb 18
Medicare not seizing our asset vibes would be nice, too. I’d rather not be homeless.

(Note: I got this wrong. It’s MediCal/Medicaid that seizes your assets.)

Feb 19
Mom is going back to the rehab today, perhaps permanently. They finally found that her terrible pain is from severe spinal stenosis. They may try to do an epidural nerve block if nothing else helps. Her spirit is good, her fighting spirit undiminished, so we’ll see how things go.

Feb 21
I’ve been sitting here all afternoon saying “Oh my God” over and over to myself. Rollercoasters suck.

(Note: I learned that my house might be protected after all.)

Feb 24
It may be a measure of my worry that I was seriously listening to Joel Osteen this morning. Not any crazier than my previous money making scheme: buying Lotto tickets. Both Lotto and Osteen require unfettered faith, something I sometimes have in microbursts.

Feb 25
No matter how bad it gets, my life is not as bad as Fantine’s…or millions of other people around the world. Everything is relative.

Feb 28
Heard Jimmy Cliff driving to work so “The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all” is the theme of the day.

Feb 28
There’s a difference between taking off your shirt while running to show off your manly chestal pulchritude and taking off your shirt while running and having manly chestal pulchritude. We can tell the difference, guys. And not just cynical old broads like me.

Mar 1
I am so tired of grown up stuff.  Can I run away now?

Mar 2
At home nursing a strained back. Life is good.

Mar 2
Why is it in movies and on TV when a scientist sees something unbelievable he removes his glasses? It’s become a total visual cliché.

Mar 3
The strain has progressed to spasms. I’m at urgent care.

Mar 3
Back still very unhappy and so am I. Two muscle relaxers at least make things bearable.

Mar 4
Back doing better but I’m still spending the day with my heating pad and my drugs. What part of driving with a strained back is not good did I not get? Pass more muscle relaxers.

Mar 5
I’m beginning to think the main job requirement for weather “girls” is “Must wear at least a C cup and adore tight clothing.”

I’m definitely watching too much TV since the back injury.

5 Mar
OMG the political phone calls the last week!  Once or twice an hour sometimes on two phones and me a couch prisoner! Just got another an hour before the polls close. Argh! Very hotly contested mayoral campaign.

8 Mar
Since hurting my back and unable to reach the floor without pain I’ve turned into a ham-handed bumbler constantly dropping things on the floor.

11 Mar
*sigh* I’m sitting at my desk at work with a pillow and a heating pad tucked behind my still-spasming back.

12 Mar
My new favorite bumper sticker: “What would Scooby do?”

12 Mar
I don’t want to be a grown up anymore. Can I crawl into a hole instead?

13 Mar
White smoke… Bring on the papas and beer.  Always thought it amusing that in Spanish and Italian pope/potatoes are the same, with only the article differentiating. Las papas de El Papa.

13 Mar
The Queen of Clueless Privilege strikes again: http://bit.ly/WnGOex   Yes, Amy F. Grant and Katie F. Couric are also queens of clueless privilege, but Gwyneth Paltrow is the original Clueless F. Queen.

14 Mar
Mom called twice this morning to check the time of her doctor’s appointment and once for me to tell her how to fold boxes from paper. Both equally important.

15 Mar
They found the violin that Wallace Hartley played as the Titanic sank:  http://yhoo.it/10XBK4u 

15 Mar
Some good news yesterday: Mom is responding so well to therapy she won’t need an epidural and may be coming home soon.

Also, my back is slowly getting unstrained. Driving still remains a painful challenge, but I can sit at my desk with only occasional spasms.

With all the drugs I’ve been taking for the back my Achilles tendon isn’t hurting at all anymore.

Look! Actual content!

I got this meme from sartorias who got it from Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m about 75 pages from finishing Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness and dipping into Help. Thanks. Wow. by Anne Lamott. I’m really enjoying both of them. I know some people poo-poo Harkness, but I’ve enjoyed both of her books. They just draw me in and keep me reading, no mean feat these days. And Anne Lamott manages to be spiritual, hilarious, humanitarian, and egalitarian. I love her.

Before those I read Giving Up the Ghost: A Story About Friendship, 80s Rock, a Lost Scrap of Paper, and What It Means to Be Haunted by Eric Nuzum (back at the end of October), which was a very interesting memoir about a troubled and lost youth finding a way to prevail. I read so slowly these days, what with all that’s going on, that I think I only finished 16 books in 2012. My reading time is very scattered and precious. However, October was something of a banner month. I also finished Delusion in Death by J. D. Robb (my ultimate comfort read author) and Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson, a medieval noir detective story. I didn’t like this second book as much as I liked the first in her series (Veil of Lies), but well enough that I’ll continue reading them.

What will I read next? Haven’t a clue. Many lovely books await me. I suspect it will all depend on the mood I’m in when I’m finally finished with the current book.

Random quote of the day:

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

—W. Fusselman, “Slogans for a Library,” The Library, April 1926
(often misattributed to Margaret Fuller)

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

 

“I’m writing a book.  I’ve got the page numbers done.”

—Steven Wright

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

1 Oct
I have bookmarks from book stores that have been out of business for twenty or thirty years. They’re raggedy and limp, but I haven’t the heart to throw away the last vestiges of places I loved.

2 Oct
I was up half the night with stomach crud. I just can’t get a break lately. I’m feeling better this afternoon, escaping the heat under the peach tree. As is often the case in SoCal we’re having our hottest summer weather in September and October. Really looking forward to real autumn.

4 Oct
The sign spinner at the corner of Admiralty and Via Marina whose specialty appears to be dropping the sign.

5 Oct
Just shifted around my retirement funds. I still can’t retire before OhGodI’mSoOld but at least it felt like progress.

5 Oct
It’s mostly on TV and in crime books that people need Big Motives to murder. In real life they murder for a pittance.

6 Oct
If it’s Ye Olde Anything Shoppe you know it’s going to be terrifyingly quaint.

7 Oct
The Simpsons do the Mayan prophecy: “The world will end in 2012 and it will be Obama’s fault.”

8 Oct
I’m trying to live my creative life not asking favors of anyone since I haven’t got time to return them, but sometimes it’s very hard.

9 Oct
I love my habits more than I love my health.

10 Oct
Just when you think you’ve learned a few things, that maybe you are a grown up after all, your Inner Five Year Old reasserts herself and makes you the fool. Hypothetically speaking, of course. I couldn’t possibly be talking about myself.

10 Oct
I asked my 91-year-old mother if she wanted to read up on the State Propositions before voting. She said, “No. I just want to go and vote for Obama.”

10 Oct
A mega-billionaire/hypocrite threatens to lay off employees if Obama is re-elected: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-workers-youll-likely-fired-131640914.html  The Koch Brothers threatened to do the same thing: http://bit.ly/PxPWMx

10 Oct
Mercy me. A printed hardcopy book from a reputable house in which passed got confused with past. The world is not what it was

11 Oct
Mom on the Ryan/Biden debate: “Who is that young putz?” Me: “Congressman Ryan.” Mom: “He’s an arrogant little s***.”

Mom on the debate: “This is a good debate. Joe Biden is kicking butt.”

12 Oct
Mom on a debate she’d like to see: “I want to see Michelle Obama debate Ann Romney. Michelle would clean the floor with her.” In case anyone wonders, my mother adores Michelle and doesn’t think much of Ann Romney.

12 Oct
Lindsay Lohan is voting for Romney. I rest my case.

12 Oct
I was home with a bad stomach, sleeping. I kept hearing helicopters circling and circling, usually an indication of a celebrity arrival at LAX or a big accident somewhere nearby. When I finally woke up out of the half haze, I realized that today was the day they started moving Endeavour from the airport.  It’s traveling right through my ‘hood, starting about six blocks from here. I was too sick to go out, but I watched it for hours on TV. So weird/weirdly exciting to see all my familiar landmarks on television. “Oh, there’s my Starbucks. There’s Mom’s doctor’s office. There’s my local Del Taco,” and etc. Here’s some of the “live feed”:

Watching Endeavour on mute now. Does anyone enjoy the endless patter?

Now I know why they laid down all those steel plates on Manchester.

The shuttle is inching past Jet Car Wash.

The shuttle is approaching Randy’s Donuts, that giant donut you see in every montage of L.A., at the corner of Manchester and the 405 freeway. Apparently, Randy’s Donuts made special Space Shuttle Donuts which they can’t sell today because the city asked them to stay closed for crowd control issues. I guess there’s always tomorrow. (And Toyota paid them for the use of their lot to film a commercial, so it’s not a total loss.)

And now the shuttle is waiting be towed across the 405 by a Toyota truck while they film a commercial. Toyota have been big contributors to the museum (millions, I hear). If my stomach wasn’t bad I might go buy one of the commemorative donuts tomorrow. But as a friend pointed out, donuts freeze really well.

13 Oct
On the way to dialysis this morning while traveling on the elevated 105 freeway I saw the shuttle’s tail and back in the distance as it moved along Manchester. No shuttle on the return drive to dialysis. It’s turned north and disappeared, alas.

I told my pharmacist that I saw the shuttle and she thought that was neat but added, “I want one of those shuttle donuts from Randy’s.” Yes, as does everyone else in L.A., apparently. I’d swung by Randy’s earlier to see about those special but the line was down the block so I kept going. Only a three and a half hour window to get my errands done before I have to pick Mom up again at dialysis. At least I’m not sick this morning.

Donut Quest 2012: Mom and I stopped by Randy’s at 2:30 on the way home. No lines, but they’d sold out of shuttle donuts until Monday. How did they sell out for tomorrow already? The bakers went home for the weekend. I’m hoping they’ll recognize they’ve got a little gold mine there and keep making them. I’ll keep trying. We now have a nice stash of non-shuttle donuts in the freezer. (You didn’t expect we’d leave empty-handed, did you?) I’m glad to report that Randy’s isn’t just a tourist attraction. They make good donuts.

14 Oct
This morning I was singing “I Kissed a Kitty and I Liked It” to Min and she was all, like, “Yuck, ick!” But she purred as she said it.

14 Oct
Today I got to clean out the pigeon coop that hadn’t been cleaned in a year. I bet you’re envious. I won’t let it go quite so long next time. A half hour shower didn’t seem long enough.

14 Oct
The hazards of sitting in the fall garden: my favorite chair was infested by a nest of baby spiders. I didn’t know I could still move that fast.

15 Oct
It’s probably a bad sign when you start writing a negative review halfway through a book. I’d never post it without finishing. Still.

That all-around bon vivant and right good writer has two new novels out, both of them the first in projected series:

JIMMY-DON AND THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY ORDEAL – Book 1 in the Jimmy-Don/DHSL series

Right before leaving Nashville with his tail tucked between his legs, Jimmy-Don Autry picks up a stray piece of magic on his boot. His career as an outlaw country singer temporarily in the toilet, he returns to his hometown of Kerrville, Texas to lick his wounds. But when every magical gangster in South Central Texas becomes interested in him, he finds himself on the run, unaware that hidden in his custom-made cowboy boots is the legendary Kraftkugel, the power orb of German kobolds.

Destina Garza is not only an agent for the DHSL–the Department of Human and Supernatural Liaisons–in San Antonio, she’s also a poly-supernatural: a shapeshifting sorcerer/witch. When the Department’s augury team begins tracking a ne’re-do-well country singer’s activities, Destina is assigned to get to the bottom of why various criminal groups are out to get Jimmy-Don. Having had a bad experience with a live-in boyfriend/musician, her patience for this Texas musician and his unorthodox ways is strained. And when it seems every thaumaturgic bad seed in the city is thrown into the mix, she wonders if she’ll live long enough to be promoted to district supervisor in the male-dominated DHSL.

Book One in The Battle for Amel-Gar series

The kingdom of Amel-Gar is at war. And Amel-Gar’s rulers seem to have forgotten that unpopular wars often spawn revolutions.

Aeons ago dragons reigned in Amel-Gar. Today, Ziane Kont controls the precious J-fuel necessary for the war effort, secretly extracted and synthesized from the underground bones and magic of J-mu and her dragon weyr, the greatest of their kind. Now the spirit of J-mu lives on inside Ziane, forcing her to morph into dragon form, a curse soon to be passed down to her daughter.

Nineteen-year-old Lana Kont is in love with Dallon Jaser, her freshman history professor. But when her mother orders his execution, mother and daughter are pitted against one another as they bend the pollution-based sky-haints to assume dragon form and wage war in the sky.

Corona is a half-haint, an incorporeal being in constant danger of slipping off this mortal coil. When she becomes involved with the revolutionary group, the Agony Underground, she is caught between Lana and Ziane in their struggle for supremacy―a struggle that could destroy Amel-Gar itself.

There are all sorts of degrees of books, all sorts of reasons for keeping or getting rid of them.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of book purging the last few weeks. Some of the books were those I’d been holding in reserve to lend to a book sharing acquaintance. That relationship has gone south somewhat and I just couldn’t see cluttering up my limited space with books that should have gone into the Recycle bags months ago, ones I had no particularly affinity for keeping. Not necessarily bad books—some I enjoyed quite well—but ones I was fairly certain I’d never read again and had no desire to hang onto.

Others came from my Read-But-Not-Ready-To-Get-Rid-Of bookcase. These resonated with me strongly enough that I couldn’t decide yet if they would become part of the permanent collection or get passed on. Some wait in limbo for years before I make up my mind. I also have The Permanent Collection bookcases and the scandalously large To Be Read bookcases (note the plural). But I’ve begun to face up to the reality of a few things. Namely, that I am not reading books as quickly as I once did.

I used to think I was a fast reader, but I realized sometime past that compared to a number of book lovers on the internet I’m a tortoise. I used to get through between 40 and 50 books a year. Not a blistering pace compared with some of those bookophiles of my acquaintance, but considering that I’m always reading several books at once, not a bad total. Now that my days are so chock full of Things To Do, I’m lucky to get any reading time at all. It takes me about a month to finish an average-length novel, longer still if it’s a behemoth. I’m close to finishing a couple of those several I’m reading, both nonfiction, which takes me considerably longer than a month to get through. So I’m closing in, but not there yet. It could be a few more months…

I may not clear even a third of my old finished total this year.

So I’ve begun eyeing the books in my various bookshelves, with their sundry “keeping codes,” in a different light, asking myself this simple question, “Do you think you’ll get around to reading/rereading this one in this lifetime?” The answer is often a regretful, “No.” Even for some of them in the TBR pile. As interesting as these books are, as primed as I was at the time of buying them or finishing them, I doubt I’ll get to them. Life is shortening up every day, time is a precious commodity, and my living space is over-full. Getting rid of books, albeit regretfully, is one thing I have some control over. If I find somewhere down the line that I really did want to read/reread something, there’s a thriving used book market I can take advantage of.

Yes, I know e-books would solve some of this. Wish I enjoyed reading digitally.

I’m still acquiring new books, though not at the obscene pace I once collected them. Space has to be found in the TBR bookcases. Out with the old, to the benefit of the Venice library. In with the new. Until they become old and I have to ask myself that sad question about them, too.

Nil desperandum. Spero melior.

18 Jul
A peregrine falcon has been hunting the bird feeder the last three days. I knew he was around because the little bitty birds don’t eat all the food in the bird feeder by the end of the day. This morning I saw him—actually walking on the ground around my car parked in the driveway. Some little critters must have scurried under to hide. I don’t begrudge the falcon doing what he has to do to survive, but I’m always glad when the little bits manage to elude him. Still, he was gorgeous. When I looked outside to call, “Mr. Peregrine, what are you doing?” he gave me such a look. “What the hell do you think I’m doing dork?” Regal falcons really know how to put you in your place. And he was a different one from last year. That one was light-headed, this guy had a dark brown head. Beautiful, beautiful creature.

16 Jul
“About 4000 Klimt drawings survive, and an indeterminate number more were clawed and peed upon by the cats that roamed his studio.”

Wait, did Klimt live at my house? Ah, the ironic fate of the artist! Who has cats.

15 Jul
Whenever I hear Morgan Freeman narrate Through the Wormhole it’s like listening to God explain the cosmos.

13 Jul
Mustard is a very persistent condiment, kind of like the Troll of the food world. Just sayin’.

12 Jul
A motorcycle cop stepped into traffic on Lincoln Blvd. hill near Jefferson, where the presidents meet. He let three tonier cars pass but flagged down the ancient Toyota covered in Bondo. Economical profiling? This didn’t strike me as a very safe way to do a traffic stop. I eyed him suspiciously as I passed to see if he was a fake cop.

12 Jul
A Ferris wheel and Tilt-a-Whirl in the middle of Windward Avenue this morning, and other carnival rides arrayed around Venice Circle.

11 Jul
I liked Crones Don’t Whine but I’ve had to stop reading it because I’ve decided to embrace my Inner Whiner. As well as my Inner Martyr, my Inner Bitter Old Hag, my Inner Depressive and my Inner Constant Complainer.

Because as Jane Wagner said, “I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.”

9 Jul
My mind is on fire with a new-old idea but what can I do with it in this world of No Damned Time?

9 Jul
I should write a book about remembering the good and letting go of the bad. I’ll call it Remember This, Not That.

6 Jul
That supporting actress who was on that show that I can’t remember the name of…I ran into her twice in three days.