You know, there’s a lot to be said for growing old gracefully. There’s also a lot to be said about people looking like people, not some over-idealized ancient supermodel. However, I’m not going to say it. Talk amongst yourselves.
Mon 9 Jan 2012
The luxury of time
Posted by PJ under aging, quote of the day, writing
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Random quote of the day:
Â
“If you’re a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he’s good, the older he gets, the better he writes.â€
—Mickey Spillane, interview with Jon Winokur, Writers on Writing
Disclaimer:Â 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.
Fri 6 Jan 2012
You’ve got to come back a star*
Posted by PJ under quote of the day, stars
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Random quote of the day:
“He whose face gives no light shall never become a star.â€
—William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell,†The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
*Extra bonus points to whoever gets the obscure movie reference.
Disclaimer:Â 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.
Thu 5 Jan 2012
Stephen Hawking and women
Posted by PJ under science, sexism, women
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Yeah, when you take them for granted, work them into the ground, then announce you have fallen in love with your nurse they get mad and dump your butt to the curb. Big mystery there. But I’m sure all your male colleagues laughed in smugly when you made that remark. You probably don’t have any women “colleagues.”
Sexism is a lot like rust. It never sleeps.
Wed 4 Jan 2012
My fairy name—tra la tra la
Posted by PJ under fairies, meme, video
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My fairy name is Fidget JupiterglitterShe is mysterious and secretive.
She lives in rotting woodlands near poisonous toadstools.
She is only seen in the light of a shooting star.
She wears red with white spots, like toadstools and has deep mauve butterfly wings.
Find out your fairy names with The Fairy Name Generator!
Wed 4 Jan 2012
Without doubt
Posted by PJ under belief, doubt, madness, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:
Â
“The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.â€
—G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Disclaimer:Â 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.
Tue 3 Jan 2012
Only two days left…
Posted by PJ under contest, writing
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to enter stillnotbored‘s monthly first line contest. Write a stanza or a parargaph and you might win a lovely necklace.
Tue 3 Jan 2012
And so we begin again
Posted by PJ under beginnings, growth, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:
“Genuine beginnings begin within us, even when they are brought to our attention by external opportunities. It is out of the formlessness of the neutral zone that new form emerges and out of the barrenness of the fallow time that new life springs.â€
—William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes
Disclaimer:Â 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.
Mon 2 Jan 2012
A cooking and writing retreat in France, anyone?
Posted by PJ under cooking, dreams and dreamtime, food, writing
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The lovely and talented mnfaure is dreaming dreams for the future. She would like input on her idea for running workshops in Provence combining a writers’ retreat and French cuisine. Please visit her and let her know what you think of the idea. Everything’s in the planning stage at this point, but dreaming is so much fun!
Sun 1 Jan 2012
Books report
Posted by PJ under book lists, books, obsession, reading
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What would a new year be without a (boring) accounting of my reading for the year just passed?
Not surprisingly, my reading took a big hit this year, what with Life Happening and all. I only managed to finish twenty-two books—and I’m actually surprised I read that many. Sometimes it took me an entire month to finish one book. And I’m not talking weighty tomes, either.
Of the books I read, nine were by J. R. Ward. I fell into that cracktastic obsession and kept going. Insane books, really, but I love them. These are big time comfort reads for me. In fact, almost everything I finished this year was a comfort read.
Only seven of the books I finished were from the TBR pile, I’m afraid. I had hoped to alternate new/TBR throughout the year, but it didn’t happen. And only three were ebooks. It looks like I am a hopeless dinosaur. I just don’t enjoy the ebook experience and only indulge when it’s a holiday or late at night and I must start the next J. R. Ward book (et al.) immediately or the book is only available as an ebook. Yes, I understand all the arguments about saving space in my house, etc., but it doesn’t make a dent in my book acquisitiveness. I bought fewer books this year but still managed to buy four times as many as I read. I will probably be one of those old ladies whose mummified remains are found buried beneath a pile of hoarded books. I certainly own enough to build a tomb.
I’ve been reading Sherman Alexie’s wonderful collection of stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, on and off through the year, as well as some non-fiction, most notably Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar by Robert W. Lebling; some books on early nineteenth-century California and Los Angeles; Jung’s memoir, Memories, Dreams, Reflections; Henry Miller’s memoir, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch; and Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes—but I haven’t finished any of them. I pick them up (sometimes for days, sometimes for an hour) and put them down again. I don’t have the sustained concentration they need.
And that’s about it. Here’s the list of finished comfort reads:
1. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – new
2. Blood Challenge by Eileen Wilks – new
3. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (restart) – TBR
4. River Marked by Patricia Briggs – new
5. Treachery in Death by J. D. Robb – new
6. A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski (ebook) – new
7. Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie – TBR
8. Soul Song by Marjorie M. Liu – TBR
9. India Black by Carol K. Carr – TBR
10. Dark Lover by J. R. Ward – TBR/new
11. Lover Eternal by J. R. Ward – new
12. Lover Awakened by J. R. Ward (ebook) – new
13. Lover Revealed by J. R. Ward – new
14. Lover Unbound by J. R. Ward – new
15. Lover Enshrined by J. R. Ward – new
16. Lover Avenged by J. R. Ward – new
At this point in the year, I had to make myself stop reading Ward books and go on to something else for awhile.
17. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris – TBR
18. Demon Marked by Meljean Brook – new
19. New York to Dallas by J. D. Robb – new
20. Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook – new
21. Lover Mine by J. R. Ward – TBR
22. Father Mine: Zsadist and Bella’s Story by J. R. Ward (ebook) – new
I suspect I’ve fallen back into the Ward obsession again here at the end of the year. *sigh*
