You Bloody Fool!

Moi? I say, in perfect f*cking French. Hark, who would be calling me names? Well, there's always a bloody ghost, isn't there? And you'll be surprised to find out whose ghost it is...


Christopher Moore has all kinds of hilarious, sarcastic fun with Shakespeare's King Lear in his newest novel, Fool.

The main character in this laugh fest is a tiny jester named Pocket, and he certainly tumbles his way into the reader's heart as he juggles with the lives of so many. It's a tangled web that traps more than just bits of King Lear.

I liked it better than Lamb. But then, I'm more familiar with Shakespeare than--religious stuff. I highly recommend this novel for anyone who is in the mood for a funny read!

Nessa wrote a very nice review of Fool, beating me by more than a month.

Five Ethereal Years

Today happens to be the fifth anniversary of my first-ever blog post. Don't look, it's nothing special. A bit of a blast from the past for me, but surprisingly meaningless. And during the past five years, I've changed the name and look at this little address so many times that it's hard to remember what it looked like in November of 2004. I once split the blog in two, only to combine them again, deleting some of the drivel along the way.

In other words, this blog has managed to be a decent mirror of my life. I've complained about work and people who annoy me, I've mentioned news articles or issues that have caught my attention, I've reviewed books and noted the birthdays of some authors, and I've poked fun of my cat, Serena the Slovenly.

On with the tradition.

Since I've just finished complaining about work, I'll pick as the news item of the day the ever-increasing price of Penn State football tickets. While it's true that I'm no football fan and haven't been up to see a game in years, I can still remember how those football weekends felt in Happy Valley, back when I was one of the many dorm denizens. In those days, every student could buy a season football pass for about $35. Don't quote me on that, but I remember that it was a price that did not cause anyone alarm. We'd show up with our IDs and tickets, sit in our designated student seating area, and cheer on our team. The Nittany Lion Mascot would visit, and we might get to pass him up over our heads. We'd throw marshmallows at each other, do the wave, and sing silly songs. I remember one time when I sat in the end zone to be part of the card section, but we'd all had so much beer before the game that no one was able to sit in the correct seat or flip his or her card at the correct time, but we had fun anyway. Meanwhile, the rest of the stadium got to puzzle over what in the name of H. Bryce Jordan we were tryin' to do, anyway.

Yes, we tailgated, and underage drinking did happen. The first time I ever got drunk was my first Penn State game of my freshman year, and I can still remember how the ground slanted to the left as I made my way into the stadium. During the next four years, I was to meet many people who had had a tough time deciding on which school to attend, and this choice was often helped along by those nifty Nittany Lion student tickets. For me, it was just an added perk, because I really liked Happy Valley, but for some, football season was the highlight of the year, something they planned their lives around.

This year, student season tickets cost $247 dollars, and they are now stored on the student ID cards (that part is an improvement). Students must pre-register for the sale. They also needed to have a Ticketmaster account for both pre-registration and the actual sale, along with their student ID number and a valid credit card. Life without PCs was so much easier. At this price, I wouldn't buy a season ticket unless I really thought I'd go and enjoy ALL the games.



Penn State Alumni spend even more time and money on Penn State games, since they must buy season tickets (it's impossible to buy single game tickets anymore)(but there's always a bloody scalper) and must also be Nittany Lion Club members. Well, starting in 2011, the giving level of these club members will be increased for those who want to retain their current spending level for tickets! It's a seat license charge, and those ticket holders who decline to pay it will be moved to less desirable parts of the stadium. Where would that be? The upperclass student section! That's right--fewer seats for the current students, who should be able to enjoy those fleeting, precious four years of having fun in Beaver Stadium.(Visit PennLive for sticker shock).



This seems like a wildly inappropriate time for such greed. The players are still being exploited, and the schedule won't get any more interesting. It's hard to imagine what is going to motivate ticket holders to spend between $100 and $600 more per season ticket, depending on where they are.

(It's a whiteout)

Predictions? Just how much will it take to make such merriment prohibitive? After all, it's so much more comfortable at home or in a bar. It seems to me that a fan would get more bang for the buck with a the huge-screen TV and the channels that go with it. Gee, the fallout of this seat licensing policy could be more interesting than the games. Well--that's not saying much, this season.

someone has too much time on his hands...

Life in the drive-thru, where customers don't actually see us while talking on cell phones or smoking a whole field of tobacco (through a cloud darkly).

We had several plastic cups on the counter, one for rubber bands, one for paper clips, two for pens. We thought it was very neat looking, very orderly. We also had one of those vertical file-thingies for deposit and withdrawal slips. It was actually organized, surprisingly so for the fact that there were so many teenagers around.

Bigwigs came, said, "NO cups." We hid stuff. Hid paperclips, got a pretty basket for the pens.

Store Tour by Bigwigs: Vertical file-thingie has to go. Get facilities to make you another shelf under teller stations. Basket for pens is a no-go.

New pen caddies come out! They are very pretty, and eliminate the problem of where to put our pens. We each have one, and are using its lid to house paper money envelopes. We are all so organized and happy about this.

Temporary Assistant Store Manager visits drive-thru, confiscates one of our pen caddies. Only ONE in the drive-thru, she says, and it must be placed between the lollipops and the dog bones.

Bigwigs say: pen caddy lids are to be put under pens. Take paper money envelopes out of them right now.

Temporary Assistant Store Manager comes to drive-thru and once again moves our ONE pen caddy. It must be placed below the platform stand that displays the lollipops and dog treats to the customers, but make sure it's still between the lollipops and dog treats.

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Stay tuned to learn how we deal with the money envelopes. It might be just as exciting.

Happy Birthday, Ekim!

Oh, man, I wish I could sing this well. But I can't. Happy birthday to my hubby, even though he's working today.

The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly

(339pgs, published 2006, Simon & Schuster)
This creepy fairy tale is the story of one twelve year old boy named David, who is deeply troubled by the recent loss of his mother. On top of this, David's father becomes intimate with another woman just months later, remarries, and the two of them have another son. When David and his father move into his stepmother Rose's old family home, David is still mourning his mother and feeling resentful and jealous of his stepmother and new baby brother. In addition, his country is at war (WWII), which for his father means late nights at work, and Georgie, the new baby, keeps both parents sleep deprived and on edge. It's a rough time in general, and David's emotional problems make this domestic scene worse.

David and his mother shared a love for books, and with this knowledge, the good-intentioned Rose gives David the room that once belonged to her great uncle Jonathan, because it still contains so many of the books her uncle loved, and David seems to be so much like him. David later learns that Jonathan, along with an adopted little sister, wandered off one day and the two were never seen again. It was a family tragedy that was never explained.

Until now. This is a coming-of-age fairy tale in which a boy is lured away by an evil force, but fights his way back to return as a young man. David's character is transformed through his adventures and the lessons he learns about life and himself along the way. The adventures that John Connolly conjures are very scary, the characters fascinating. I'm impressed. Many of the situations are recognizable distortions of familiar fairy tales; take one of the Grimm stories and turn it into a more adult, grotesque nightmare, and you get the general idea. This tale is paced well, and I enjoyed reading it. I was in the mood for something very different and I found it!


The reason I remembered to read a book I've had for quite awhile--The Book of Lost Things came out in 2006-- was that Connolly has a new book out this year, which reminded me that I was supposed to read nine books published in 2009 this year. I have only read a third of that, which sounds better than stating that um, I've read three 2009 books. So, going forward, I will only be reading 2009 books, until I've read at least most of the ones I really really want to read.

Well, unless...

Changes

Getting up this morning was successful, due to the very simple idea of moving the alarm clock across the room and setting it for ALARM, as opposed to RADIO, since it is much too inviting to lie in bed and listen to Carl Kasell. The alarm noise also makes the cat jump off me. That's convenient, too.

Running along Creek Road, it occurred to me that I should go a different way and take that new road leading to the newest part of a new development. Oh, brother, is it uphill! And it reminded me of the above picture, which I've used before, except there are no sidewalks. Oh, wait, the houses are four times bigger, too, and the street is much wider--well, anyway, it must've just been the hill, and the light of day coming. The full moon was still visible this morning, too. There is one particular house at the top of this hill, which will have a very nice view of the creek when it's finished. This entire area was once a wild wheat field with golden finches swooping up and down, the way they do, but now I'm seeing an unfamiliar bluish bird. I made a point of coming back this way after running my loop through the older neighborhood, and by the time I came back, the quietness was gone, replaced by the noises of the work crews. Those beeping backing-up sounds are almost as appealing as my alarm clock.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I'm going to see if I can make myself do a treadmill workout, to work on getting back into better shape. This run took me way too long.

Speaking of changes, though, this lovely schedule of mine, which affords me all this time in the morning, is not going to last forever*, and I know it. I won't be bitter, though, change can be good.

And I better get myself in gear if I'm going to make my lunch, get dressed, and vote before work! Have a great day, everyone!

*TWO of my young coworkers have added a DUI to the life's experiences, and will soon forfeit their licenses. Their early-morning schedules will need to change, and I know who'll replace them. It's okay.

Rabbit, rabbit!

Good luck in November, everyone! I do realize that is in fact a picture of the Easter Bunny, and I'm not wishing winter away before it gets here, but since it is November now, I thought that a bit of political humor was called for. This is just a small sample of the really funny stuff over at this site. I like Joe Biden, by the way, he's endearing, smart, and--funny.


see more Political Pictures


see more Political Pictures





see more Political Pictures

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I'm thankful to Ekim, who was able to rid this computer of a gnarly virus--it took his entire Saturday afternoon to do it, but he slew the beast. The beast that I accidently brought home. After I sit in the corner for awhile, I shall be more careful, honest:)

And now herrrrrrrrrrrrrrre's November!

The real review

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (translated in 2008) is the first of the Millennium Trilogy of crime novels written by Stieg Larsson, who did not attempt to get them published until shortly before his death. (This is only the second novel I've ever read that takes place in Sweden. That is neither here or there, it just is.)

Rarely do I finish 590 pages so swiftly! These pages kept turning and I kept reading, despite the fact that I often did not know where this story was headed. Larsson kept the pace moving by switching narratives and creating a unique and intriguing female main character. Actually, she's not the only main character, but she steals the show. Her name is Lisbeth Salander and she's an emotional wreck with a past that is never completely revealed to the reader, but one thing is for certain: she's as smart as a whip, and she can smart like a whip! Lisbeth is the smartest one in the room at all times, and this comes as a shock the many people around her who assume that she is quiet, dull, and horribly unsocial. She's not dull.

There's an official website for this book where you can go and friend Lisbeth on Facebook. This would be an attempt at humor--surely? Let me warn you, folks--Lisbeth does not do Facebook, and she certainly doesn't want to friend us. How do you define friendship, anyway?

The next books are The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'm really looking forward to reading them.

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In other news, Serena the Cat has had a cold for days. She's sneezing. On me. Of course I don't expect a cat to cover her mouth, but wouldn't it be cute if she did? And hey, she'd have three paws left on the ground, wouldn't she?

Achoo! On second thought, if Serena started puttin' on human airs, it wouldn't be long until we might have another messy problem. Um, never mind.

Making Myself Late...

Much to my surprise, a very young person recommended David Garrett to me, and now I can't get off YouTube. He's really good, and he chooses unusual material.

Also, I just finished a real page-turner, with one very strong and intriguing female character. I look forward to reading more about her.

Gotta go! I'm looking forward to catching up on all my favorite blogs--soon:)

Happy Wednesday

Today is actually a beautiful Wednesday here, and it happened to be my day off! So, Mom and I went walking around City Island, where we wandered around, observing all the construction that's going on around the Senator's baseball arena and watching birds, until we got to the miniature golf course. No one was there except a guy blowing leaves off the course, so Mom poked around and yelled something like yoo-whoooo until she got the leaf blower's attention. He said something like, whadayawant? Then he was very nice, and let us play for free! He thought he shouldn't charge us because of all the leaves and such.

We had a very fun time playing, and laughing over the fact that this course is beautiful, but three times more evil than it is beautiful. There are curb cuts that are strategically placed to let your ball fly into the water, under the rocks, and generally out of sight. Also, surfaces that looked perfectly flat were not.

It's hard to see all the golf balls in this picture, but believeyoume, plenty of people had a more arduous time putting through this 18-hole course than we did! Mom won, 59 to 73.

We had Indian for lunch, then poked around Tuesday Morning, which is always fun. It's one of those stores where the merchandise varies from week to week, so it's part shopping trip, part museum excursion.

Good times! It was important, since I'm facing seven days in a row working. Woe is I.

Thanks, Mom:)