loving that it's friday.
Life has been so busy lately, or so it seems. It really hasn't been that busy, but I've been keeping myself busy between movies, books, and video games, haha. It's been really nice letting go and allowing myself to have some fun and relaxation without worrying about what doesn't get done (although the house must still be clean at all times, it drives me nuts if it's messy or dirty).
Last week was dedicated to catching up on movies and such, and this week I have been getting caught up with my reading. I finished Bringing Down the House on Sunday, started Geisha, A Life and finished on Wednesday, and then started and got halfway through Twilight last night. I have a feeling that it will be finished by Saturday night. That's nearly 3 books in one week, which certainly helps make up for my slacker ways the first few weeks of May. ^^
I've also been spending a lot of time lately studying Korean. When I was cleaning through the boxes in my garage a few months ago, I found all my old books and notebooks that I used to study. It brought back a lot of memories and made me realize how much I had learned, but forgotten. I also dug out all my Korean music CDs and have been listening to those lately. The language is coming back a lot faster than I thought it would, and I'm also learning a lot more that I didn't learn before -- I suppose my memorization and comprehension skills have drastically improved since I was in 8th grade, because I feel like learning is coming a lot easier this time. It's also amazing how many more web resources there are for learning... I remember when I began learning (almost 10 years ago, *gasp*) there were hardly any websites out there dedicated to learning the Korean language, and the ones I did find were mostly concerned with learning to read/write in Hangul (the Korean writing system) and just some basic conversational words. The sites I'm able to find now are so much more in depth, and I'm really glad I've been able to find more resources for learning -- it makes it so much easier.
Tonight I am going to the Rockies game (baseball) with the old roommates (Matt, Steve, Brian, Justin), and Kristy is coming too! I think I'm more excited about seeing everyone again than I am about the actual game (actually, I know I am). It should be a really fun night. :D Tomorrow I am going to my sister's place to help set up her wireless, and then we're going to lunch. I think later in the day Matt, Steve, and I might go see Chronicles of Narnia. Hopefully Kristy can come, since her and I went to go see the first one together. We both loved it, and I've heard the new one is already getting great reviews. We'll see! I just need to read the books now, hehe.
the glorious gummi cola...
This is about as hot as it ever gets in Seattle, even mid-summer. I had planned some pie-baking over the weekend, but did it last night because I sure as heck won't fire up the oven when it's in the mid-80s.
We've had some lovely fresh local rhubarb, which I've turned into a couple of Rhubarb Custard Pies:
I'll be gone next week - in Chicago on business, with a quick visit up to Northbrook to visit my Dad's wife. I'm on a rather challenging work project currently and the distance from the client (who is based in Chicago) doesn't make it any easier. Mostly I work with clients who are local (in Seattle). I am hoping the Chicago trip gives me some traction there. I am hoping for some decent weather to make up for what I experienced in my February visit.
新しいのではありません。久しぶりにこのピンクのやつを履きました。(^w^) 少し歩きにくい…
ヤクルトは飲むやら…この変なのも飲むやら。会社の人が買ったやつです。飲むとぽかぽかします〜！
良い週末を！！
Now that I'm getting back into posting things more regularly to my blog (what with this whole "daily write" effort), I'm feeling less enamored of the more "canned" or "ready-made" feeling that the design of my Vox blog gives me, and more aligned with, and loyal to, my TypePad blog... which I've had since TyepPad was still in Beta, back in 2003. My Vox community has become pretty stagnant too, with very few people in my neighborhood posting with any regularity, and so it makes participating in that community less compelling and important.
I know, this is exactly the opposite of the sentiment I posted back in January. But, since then, I've become less into the integration aspects, and more into the separation of my blog as something unto itself, just for writing, and the occasional photo snapped with my phone and posted on-the-go. And so, regaining the control over all the content and design that TypePad affords, as well as all the nifty for-pay features related to traffic/stats, comment management, and other stuff... floats my boat right now.
So, long story short: If you like reading my stuff, and you want to keep doing it, I'd recommend you bookmark jess.typepad.com or its feed, because that's where I plan to spend most of my blogging time in coming days.
なんとかなんとか麺。いやぁ〜実は漢字が読めないから名前が分からないのです(^。^;)
なんなんじゃこの天気は？！暑い！けどまーキモチイイですね。
そして今日は金曜日だ！嬉しい〜(￣∀￣)
- 07:19 Test from the phone. #
- 07:22 I'm listening to my coworkers talk about World of Warcraft... i remember what that used to be like. #
- 10:07 reading up on nutritional deficiencies; maybe i'm not getting enough vitimans #
- 13:32 I now have 2 mystery cuts that i don't know how i got; one on the joint of my right middle finger, the other on my arm #
- 18:26 just finished searing chicken for my salad, also preped bellpeprs, onion, egg, lettace cucumbers cheese baconbits and cheeese yum :) #
- 19:54 @laurak what about the TV show? #
- 20:11 @laurak you know ' the office" www.imdb.com/title/tt0386676/ great show #
- 20:24 @laurak i wonder why; is this list online? #
- 20:28 @laurak found it! #
- 20:35 @laurak I wonder what the best dates for each gender are? #
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He sat in pine bark mulch, with his back against a stiff shrub of some kind, outside of what looked like a generic office building. Having been outside for a few days now, he realized that shrubs have a little give to them, and aren't so soul-suckingly cold as brick walls. Mulch gave off a pleasant organic smell, covering up his own odor, and that of the piss and garbage that seemed to pervade every inch of downtown.
He shifted around in the worn-out corduroy sport coat, with suede elbow patches, and tried in vain to get a little warmth out of it. He pulled the sleeves down just a tiny bit further over his bony wrists, and recrossed his arms tightly over his knees.
Every exhalation created a little fog of steamy breath in the chill night air. He was so cold, he couldn't imagine it getting much worse, and wondered if people who froze to death really knew that it was happening to them, or whether, like he, they just felt so cold that it was painful, and almost unimaginable, and then... eventually... they didn't feel anything at all anymore. It wasn't like him to cry, but if ever he were going to, this was pretty much the point at which it'd happen. Was he cold enough to cry tears of ice? He drifted off into a dream, imagining snowflakes falling lightly from his eyelashes, as time slowed, and the world faded to black.
Sooo I know I promised to read 50 books this year, and I AM well on my
way but have been lax on updating. Here are my most recent reads:
#11 Livia by Anthony Barrett -- a wonderful biography about Augustus Caesar's wife, Livia.
#12 Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges -- This book is on the favorite list of many literary-minded friends and I have to admit that I just don't see why it's so brilliant overall. Maybe I'm the one that's not so brilliant, sigh.
#13 The Game by A.S. Byatt -- It was just ok. Nothing of the brilliance that Possession had. Overall I felt like it was rather a let down. But I bought it second hand for about $2 so I suppose it evens out.
#14 Salem Falls -- Jodi Picoult -- Better by far than The Game but still, just OK. I picked it up at the airport in Oakland in a shop that had a terrible selection of books. She has done some work with Grub Street in the past so I tend to want to patronize authors connected with one of my favorite organizations. It's an easy read but the whole teen witchy thing felt cliched.
#15 The Witch of Portobello -- Paulo Cohelo who, according to the book flap, is one of the most beloved writers of our time (he is?). So I haven't read the Alchemist yet, don't sue me. At any rate, this book was also a fast-paced read but I did find that the ending rather fell flat for me as some great "literary" fiction has a tendency to do. Again, maybe I just don't have an overall affinity for the esoteric? What I liked about this book was the style--not a single bit of it was told from the POV of the main character but instead, through a series of interviews of everyone that knew her.
#16 The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay -- I really liked this book partially because it was about books and about a bookstore and because the characters are so strange and peculiar. Despite the oddness of the cast, the book is very accessible and reads quickly. Definitely recommend.
#17 The Collected Poems of Carl Sandburg -- Ahhh just plain wonderfulness. I often read poetry to Joe before we go to sleep at night. When you read poetry aloud to someone who isn't much of a reader, you realize that accessiblilty is of the utmost importance. I was struck by how many of his poems, now 100 years old in many cases are still so very relevant, fluid and modern even today.
I'm also halfway through Aldous Huxley's The Island, partway through Margaret Atwood's The Tent and sigh of sighs, only about 400 pages into War and Peace. I like the Peace portion a lot but the War portions tend to drag on for me. And I can't figure out how late 18th Russia had so many damn princes and princesses...they seem to be everywhere you turn around!
