Books Rock

I didn't read much for a long time but the last few months I've been reading again and enjoying myself immensely. Here are some of the books I especially enjoyed...just cuz.

Kitchen Confidential: A hilarious and thought provoking book. Parts are Hunter Thompsonesque...other parts just make you hungry. Bourdain's love of food will make you want to follow him around snatching his left-overs - or learn how to cook yourself.

Of Human Bondage: A very real book that's basically a slightly fictional autobiography. Maugham talks about love in ways that I've never heard from anyone else but that make a lot of sense. He talks about how every love between two people has an inherent inequality - one of them must love more. I've noticed that only people who are very lucky escape this trap.

The Time Traveler's Wife: Science fiction that doesn't at all feel like science fiction. It feels very real, very affecting and seems very much like part of my life. A strange and wonderful love story.

Into The Wild: I took awhile to get into this book but I loved it once I did. It looks at the questions of freedom and escape in modern society. After reading this I wanted to just take off on my bike and see where I went for a couple months.

Are You Alive or Do You Just Walk Like a Human?

I saw these answers to an online questionaire recently. And I had to respond.

> What genres of Music do you like? All kinds

[Well, evidently not. See below.]

> What genres of Music do you dislike? Rap, Hard Rock, Punk

[Ah, I see, so any music that has energy and spirit aside from perhaps, gospel.]

> Favorite Movie(s)? The mummy series

[I don't even know what to say. I'd like to sit this person down, prop open her eyes with toothpicks and force her to watch REAL movies until she changes her mind.]

> What Genre of Movies do you like? Sci-fi, suspense, action, romance

[Safe enough.]

> What Genre of Movies do you dislike? Horror

[I'm not a huge horror fan either...hey we almost agree on something!]

> Favorite Restaurant? To name a few: Olive Garden, Don Pablo's, Apple Bees

[You have never lived. Plus you can't even spell the name of your favorite *shudder* "restaurant": Applebees.]

> Favorite type of food? Italian, Mexican, American

[I would hazard a guess that she's never had actual Italian or Mexican food. I wonder what she considers "American" food? Soul food perhaps? Ha!]

> Favorite activities? Church

[Better than sex? You NEED to get out more.]

> Craziest thing you have ever done? Went on the ejection seat at the state fair.

[You have truly never lived.]

Summer Camp Blues

Dropped Arden off at her first time at summer camp. I was kind of nervous. I told her "Pick out some girl who's small and doesn't have a lot of friends. Then beat the bejeezus out of her. That'll get you a rep and noone will mess with you." Then I realized that was advice for prison, not summer camp. Oops.
Then I was wondering if Johnny Cash ever lead a sing-along at Camp Ajawah: "The guards, er counselors, told me not to sing this song. But I'm singin' it anyway!" *cheers*
She said "Daaaa-ad quit embarrassing me." But then she does that no matter what I do. No matter if I burp, fart, pick my nose, get drunk and start screaming Nightranger lyrics or try to explain the difference between XPath XML and SQL database queries. Everything gets the same response "Daa-aaad."
She left her cell phone at home thinking she wouldn't get reception. Turns out my iPhone got five bars at the camp but it's for the best. Still, to make her feel better I wrote her a letter that said: "OMG! WsUp? Hws c&? LOL! L8r <3"

Why I Love My Neighborhood

This morning I was out weeding and planting morning glorys when a woman across the street was coming home from work. Somebody yells from down the block: "He Rita, come talk!"
She yells back: "Ok, but give me awhile, I'm tired and hungry and I think I might be knocked up!"