Best things for January 29th '07 (see previous installment).

1. Being lucky in love. It's been a while since I've had a warm-fuzzy fit, so hush you. About 95% of the time Calvin and I are in perfect accord, and that's a percentage you can take to the bank. The 5% of angst barely registers in my assessment, simply because any arguments we have are short lived. Really, they qualify as spirited discussions more than anything. We did go through a tough spot for a couple of months last year, but since then things have just seemed to keep getting better. I guess it takes some tough times to throw the good times into sharp relief, and make you appreciate what you have.
   
   Ladies and gentlemen, my husband just wants to hang out with me. I'm his best friend, and he's mine. We do everything together. We're constantly talking about everything under the sun. I haven't gotten boring to him, and he hasn't gotten boring to me. We want to spend all of our time together. It's a race, during a workday, to see who calls whom first. We look forward to seeing each other again at the end of the day. Really, it doesn't get much better than that, marriage-wise.



2. Chopped Greek Veggie Salad. This is a creation of mine that I've been basically living on lately. Mix together the following in a big bowl:
   
   - 1 whole cucumber, peeled, quartered, divested of seeds, and chopped
   - 1 whole red bell pepper, divested of seeds and chopped
   - 1 stalk of celery, chopped
   - 1/2 red onion, chopped
   - 3 roma tomatoes, divested of seeds and chopped
   - 1 small can of sliced black olives, rinsed and drained (about 1/3 cup)
   - 1 package of crumbled feta cheese (I use Athenos Reduced Fat)
   - 1/4 cup reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I use Newman's Own)
   - salt and pepper to taste
   
   I either pile this stuff on top of a bed of greens, or put it in a wrap or a piece of flatbread as a sandwich. If you use the lowfat dressing and feta, it's actually not bad for you at all.



3. Women's Just Lounge Pants from Old Navy. If there is anything more comfortable on this planet, I defy you to find it and bring it to my attention.

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

What you can see: Chocolate chip cookies, Kit Kats, 100 Grands, peanut M&M's, chocolate sandwich cookies, ding dongs, cupcakes, peanuts, potato sticks, tub-o-caramel.

What you can't see: Life cereal, Corn Pops cereal, ice cream, apples (for the aforementioned caramel), soda.

This is the result of Calvin let loose on the grocery store.

Labels: Calvin, food

Posted by Laura at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm at home (drinking a beer - Michelob Ultra Amber, which isn't too bad but certainly not my favorite, that happens to be Fat Tire at the moment), waiting for Calvin to get here so we can head out on the motor to hit a sports bar and watch the Suns game. The deep freeze FINALLY lifted (in January, who woulda thunk it??) and it's riding weather once again.

Speaking of which (sort of), I was driving on the freeway this afternoon headed to the pet store to get some critters for the critters (rat for the snake, worms for the beardies, crickets for the water dragon, cricket feed for the crickets - reptile husbandry is a complicated and rather ookey business), and at one point hit a dead stop in traffic. It was stop-and-go for about four miles, and then wouldn't you know? The "disturbance" came into view - a patrol car parked in the median with its lights going, and nary a road blockage in sight. There was NO impediment to the flow of traffic, and yet it slowed to a crawl for miles (in both directions, I observed while passing the traffic piled up on the other side) just because this cop was sitting on the median.

But that didn't tick me off. Even though I was in traffic for an extra 20 minutes. I had my iPod and the windows rolled down to the 65 degree weather, so not much was wrong with my world.

HOWEVER. When I pulled into the parking lot at the pet store, I angled through the isles so that I could pull straight-on into a parking spot I spotted up front. Except that just as I pulled up another truck coming in a different direction squeaked into it just in front of me. Seriously, I had to stop short. And then, cursing, I had to circle around again and park somewhat further away.

Now THAT ticked me off. There's just no telling, with me.

Heh. Before I left home I was sitting in the truck in the driveway, hooking up my iPod to the FM adaptor and stereo, and finding a good song before starting out. I glanced down and to my left, and saw a teeny clear colored spider hanging from the thread of a web. I squeaked, and rolled down the window. Apparently, the web was hooked to the window, because as it descended, the spider descended. Eep. Now it was on the arm rest on the door. So I grabbed the pack of Trident that was on the console, hoping to coax it onto the paper and then flick it out the window. Except that as soon as I approach it, it LEAPED INTO THE AIR and landed on my leg. At which point I flopped in my seat (getitoffgetitoffgetitoff) and brushed at it, and it landed somewhere on the lower seat or floor.

I think.

I jumped out of the truck and jumped up and down on the driveway (getitoffgetitoffgetitoff), brushing at my pants. I didn't see it, on me or in the truck. Which means it's probably, like, in my bra right now or something.

I wonder if the neighbors saw me.

It makes no sense whatsoever that I handle worms and crickets and reptiles on a daily basis, and still beat myself to death when a little spider crawls on me.

(Song: "Luv 2 Luv U" - Timbaland & Magoo)

Labels: boredom, home, journal, lizards

Posted by Laura at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

Best things for January 23rd '07 (see previous installment):

1. Heroes - Monday nights, NBC. What a GREAT show. I don't think anything like it has been tried before; at least, the premise seems refreshing to me, and I watch a LOT of TV (a LOT). Some of the characters make likely heroes, some make very UNlikely heroes (and those tend to be my favorites). My favorite character is, of course, Hiro Nakamura (he seems to be a popular favorite). He's just so... innocent, with his sense of responsibility and ideals of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong. He's so darned enthusiastic about being a super hero. Gotta save the Cheerleader, save the World? Will do, just pick a direction and go. Nothing is unattainable. We need more people like that in the world.
   
   I also like the imagination behind some of the "super powers". Sure, you've got your standard ability to fly, invisibility (new this week's episode), and whatnot. But there's this guy that paints the future on huge, cartoon-like canvases. And a teenager that keeps throwing herself off of things to confirm that she's indestructible. And a chick that can make you do anything she wants you to do, just by thinking at you. And Hiro, who can slow and reverse time, and jump back and forth between past, present, and future. Peter Patrelli just seems to absorb the power of whichever superhero he's around at the moment. Which, if you think about it, has gotta be uncomfortable. And a couple of villains that really didn't start out that way and seem more bewildered than anything else that they're all of a sudden the arch nemeses of the show.
   
   The character development goes further than just "leaping tall buildings" with the characters. There's angst and mystery and personal lives that are getting screwed with. All the harbingers of a good (and long-lived!) television series.



2. Indianapolis Colts - and more specifically, Peyton Manning. Okay, so I must hedge this "Best Thing" with the statement that I am indeed NOT happy that they beat out the Pats to go to the Superbowl. The Patriots are My Boys, and though they've had a great run of it over the past few years making it to the Big Game, I do not, in fact, share the seemingly widespread opinion that it should be "someone else's turn". The Pats should go to the Superbowl every year, and that is that.
   
   That being said, I'm sick of hearing the "Yes he's great during the regular season, BUT..." about Manning. He's a super player and fabulous leader, and he's got some suck post-season stats. Which are NOT all his fault (I'm looking at YOU, offensive line, with those sack stats...), though some of them are ALL his fault (hello Interception City). In the end, I'm glad that Manning gets the chance to add The Big Game to his repertoire, and end the speculation that he's not a finisher. So, since the Pats are out, I'm Colts over Bears ALL THE WAY, BABY.



3. Ridgemont Reserve 1792 Whiskey. Yes, Calvin and I are branching out from our standard litany of beer/vodka/tequila. I don't quite remember what possessed us to buy a bottle of whiskey during our Holiday Booze Run, but we're sure glad we did. This stuff is smooth, sweet, a little bit woody, and has just the right amount of burn to warm you up on a cold night (and it's been getting down below freezing around here lately folks, so don't ever be fooled into thinking that the desert never gets FUCKING COLD.) We've tried a couple of other brands, but keep going back to this one. Next we'll be tapping into the non-US whiskeys (helllloooo, Ireland!), but I'm sure this one will continue to grace our stash.

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

PBS has broadcast a night with Peter Frampton on their program "Soundstage". This guy could still totally sell out arenas; he's fantastic and hasn't lost anything since his heyday.

Plus, he's hot for an old guy. I mean, he doesn't at all look like the poster that my sister used to have on her bedroom wall (I think everybody had that poster), but still. He's a hottie.

Labels: guitar, misc

Posted by Laura at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Stolen from Ed Kaz, whose answers I couldn't improve upon if I tried, and so I won't. Here is my humble rendition.

1. Post a picture that is worth a 1000 words.


Courtesy of Born Rich.

2. Do you have a secret blog and if so why? If not, why not?

A secret blog is tempting, so I can write the truth about all of the people I can't write the truth about here. Heh. Got you thinking that YOU'RE one of them, huh? Psyche your mind!

3. Write out three wishes for other people and say why you wish those things.

I wish Jerry Springer's "guests" would just stop fucking their cousins.
I wish the Arizona Cardinals would get their act together.
I wish George Bush would consider a lobotomy.

4. If you had to make something with a grapefruit and two rubber bands what would it be?

Forget snakes! That's a wicked way to take out terrorists on an airplane.

(Heh. I used "George Bush" and "terrorists" and "airplane", I wonder how long it will take the CIA to search this site?)

5. Did you ever practice french kissing, and if so, on what, or how?

Yes, on a boy, and we worked on it until we got it right.

6. What is the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten?

Haggis. I was forced.

7. What is the most feminine (if you are a man) or masculine (if you are a woman) thing about you?

Apparently, the way I walk.

8. If you have pets, what are their names, and what inspired you to name them that?

Oz - after the character on Buffy (much as the family likes to think it's after Mr. Osbourne)
Gadget - he's tiny, he's tuny, he's just a little loony. Small dogs call for names that call small things to mind, I guess.
Gypsy - I just always knew I'd name a beagle Gypsy if I ever had one
Cheeto - because he's got coloring under his chin that looks like Cheeto dust
Lucy - after two of my favorite characters; "While You Were Sleeping", "50 First Dates". Because we originally thought she was sweet (well, for a lizard). Natch.
Water Dragon - umm... we still haven't named it.
Kali - I don't know why Marie named the snake thusly.

9. Write a three line story about a time you were caught doing something wrong.

I didn't do it.
Nobody saw me do it.
You can't prove anything.

10. Using roughly 50 words, say nothing.

curmudgeon, lackadaisical, monstrosity, blank, forgo, pontificate, tiny, fabricate, ostentatious, placebo, guile, knickerbocker, rant, fade, masquerade, platform, zodiac, verily, toothsome, tallywacker, pillowcase, fern, hungry, probability, zounds, heretofore, onomatopoeia, flummox, recalcitrant, lascivious, perfidy, ancillary, paper, bulbous, concentrate, dome, feathers, mathematician, tchotchke, contemporaneous, morose, fantasy, petal, ceramic, hottentot, purple, franchise, kitchen, ineffectual, draconian.

11. Tell us about the worst job you've ever had.

Drive thru chickie at Burger King. In Maine. During the winter.

12. Create a new breed of human. What does it look like? What does it do? How does it procreate?

It can fly, live entirely off of junk food, and procreate just the same way we do now, cuz I can't think of any better way to do it!

13. What do you think is the biggest threat to humanity right now?

Indifference.
Kevin Federline.
Mentos commercials.

14. Tell us about what your dream job would be.

Patrick Dempsey's wardrobe assistant.

15. Who is the last person you wanted to kiss?

Wanted as in I did, but didn't want to? All of my barley-water-and-moth-ball-smelling relatives when I was a kid.

16. How do you eat an oreo?

Twist it apart, eat the naked side first in one bite, then bite the other side in half, masticate, swallow, repeat with other half.

17. What would you say is your defining characteristic?

My sunny nature and outgoing personality. Bastids.

18. What is your cause?

For everyone to completely understand and come to cherish the wonders that are Funions.

19. Link one site that you have found that is useful or that makes you laugh

USEFUL

MAKES ME LAUGH

Labels: blogthings, meme

Posted by Laura at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Create your own Friend Quiz here

Labels: blogthings, meme

Posted by Laura at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm on the bed, surfing the net on my laptop (Calvin and I are going to Maine! In May! I'm so happy I could puke! More on this later!). Calvin's on the PC on the desk in the bedroom, surfing (I am sure) unmentionable things. Marie's on her laptop on the loveseat in the living room, and from the sounds of Justin Timberlake and Nellie Furtado lilting from her speakers, I'd say she's downloading music.

I honestly don't remember what we used to do to entertain ourselves before we EACH had our VERY OWN computer.

Labels: boredom, home

Posted by Laura at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sorry, I'm a couple of days late. (See previous installment.)

Best things for January 15th '07:

1. Trader Joe's. It's the best place on Earth. Well, mostly... I exaggerate, but still! For a grocery store it's pretty great. And for impulse buyers of the culinary kind, it's mecca. I mean, dude! I totally found "Garlic Buttermilk Mashed Potato Chips". HOW can you go wrong with that, I ask you? And any place that even thinks to produce and sell such a beautiful thing is more than worthy of my patronage. Even their periodic mailing - the "Fearless Flyer" - is entertaining reading. There's a lot of sampling going on; they prepare and offer samples of their new products in the store. My weekly grocery list includes their single serving salads (Greek, Italian Chop, Tomato Mozzerella...), fresh greens/veggies/fruits, hummus, pita bread, sprouted bread, frozen tilapia fillets, frozen garlic buttered shrimp, frozen single-serving microwave oatmeal, Fiji bottled water, Two-Buck-Chuck (wine), Vanilla Cluster cereal, and whatever goodies they happen to have at the time.



2. Apple iPod. I know, it's been over advertised, over hyped, and over exposed. Millions of people have one. But it's seriously such a cool little tool, and I use it every single day. How many other things like that do we use every day, that we've lost appreciation of? The neat inventions that become part of everyday life such that we lose sight of how neat they are? When was the last time you were thankful for indoor plumbing, or the garage door opener, or the microwave? Today I discovered how to sort my music by beats per minute, which makes the time go by much quicker when I can groove along on my elliptical in time to 64-68 beats per minute consistantly. Wicked.



3. Self control, or willpower (Wikipedia has an article on everything). I don't have a lot of it, but I'm trying to cultivate it. It's what makes me work out, instead of sit around and read. It's what makes me complete the less-than-enjoyable tasks I regularly wrestle with at AcronymCo. It's what makes me put away the Doritos after only a handful (further cultivation of willpower will enable me to forgo the Doritos altogether).
   

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't listening closely enough. What was your exit strategy, again? I caught the part about more troops who will be allowed to patrol and act in more areas of the country, I caught the part about how you want us to be patient, and I caught the part about how you want the Iraqis to step up and manage their own country. I even caught the part about how you listened very nicely and then turned down two different recommended exit strategies.

Oh wait, that's RIGHT. You're putting together a taskforce. Well, THAT ought to get the job done.

Sheesh. What a completely worthless speech.

Labels: misc

Posted by Laura at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

Can't sleep. Normally, I don't mind insomnia, because I have plenty of things with which to occupy myself during the "wee sma's" (that's the wee small hours of the morning for those of you who didn't grow up in my Grandma's household). I mind tonight, though, because I have to get up in a timely manner tomorrow morning for work. I guess I really screwed up my sleep schedule while on vacation, but I can't "force" myself to go to sleep. I tossed for a good 45 minutes and annoyed the bejeezus out of Calvin, so now I'm back out on the couch.

I surfed the web. Read up on all of my regular journal reads. Futzed around some more with WordPress. Personalized my Google homepage. Looked for new songs to download. Changed out a load of laundry. Made myself a mug of spiced cider. Looks like I may have to "go run around the block", as my Grandmother used to instruct me to do in order to burn off excess energy.

How ambitious do I feel like being, tonight? I want to consolidate my blog archives onto a separate page instead of having all of the months listed down the sidebar. I also want to list my post label categories in the sidebar, which feature isn't automated for my particular template. After all, someday I might get a hankering to read all of my entries about "lizards" or "boredom".

Yeah, I'm not that ambitious tonight. I'll probably watch Buffy episodes on-line, or read another book.

Labels: insomnia, journal

Posted by Laura at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sigh.

527 e-mails were awaiting my return to work. It's a good thing I logged in ahead of time tonight to do some spam weeding. Still, how depressing.

Labels: work

Posted by Laura at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm starting to make some administrative changes to the Snerkology domain. One necessary change was a Gmail account, so my new e-mail address is snerkology@gmail.com. I can't figure out how to auto-forward messages sent to my hotmail account into my gmail account, if there is such an ability. So the old hotmail account will stay active for a while, though I'll be changing the links on the website (except for the archived main journal entries).

Someday I'll be moving from Blogger to WordPress, or maybe Movable Type, but I need to figure out how to move everything over from Blogger and keep my domain name so that the change is (more or less, aside from some funky template weirdness) seamless to you guys.

Edited to add: So I transferred (manually) all of my Waking Mind entries to WordPress to mess around with it and assess the usability. So far, it isn't as flexible as I'd like, but maybe it's just because I'm not used to it yet.

Labels: blogkeeping

Posted by Laura at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

Nathan Fillion is in a new show starting mid-season on Fox. Love me some Nathan.

Posted by Laura at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Calvin and I rode the motorcycle to nearby "Churchill's" English Pub for lunch. We split a plate of English Dip, pickle spear included. Calvin reached for the pickle, took a contemplative bite, and declared:

"You know, I've always liked pickles."

To which I replied, already cracking up, "Well, thank God for that!"

Ah Calvin. As if we ever doubted your love for pickles. (doh!)

Labels: Calvin

Posted by Laura at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Something new for this year, each Saturday in '07 I'll be posting a list of the top three "best things" for that week. They can be animal, vegetable, or mineral; book, music, or movie; TV star, news article, or product promotion.

Best things for January 6th '07:

1. "An Incomplete Education - Third Edition" by Judy Jones and William Wilson. The tagline for the book is, "3,684 things you should have learned but probably didn't." Ever watch Dennis Miller and completely miss 2/3 of his cultural references? This is the book for you. It's got everything from which verse of Robert Frost to memorize to create the most impact when quoted as a refreshing pick-up line in a bar, to a condensed and understandable definition of chaos theory, to a five-topic breakdown of "philosophy made simplistic" (be the first Epistemologist on your block!). My favorite chapter so far, "A Night at the Opera: Manners and Morals for the MTV Generation."
   
   The book is written very clearly and amusingly, using very casual language that can break down the most intimidating topics. I wouldn't recommend reading it from cover to cover, but it's fun to flip open at random and see what the authors have to say on a particular subject.



2. Discovery HD Theater. Shark ultrasounds? Got that. Pub crawls of Ireland? Got that. A show dedicated to the sunrise? Got that. Really REALLY cool cinematography and photography? WAY got that. Plus, in HD, which makes it look like you're looking out a window at Mt. St. Helens erupting in your backyard. I have a lot of respect for the Discovery Channel, their messages of conservation and cultural respect, and the entertainment value of education. We invariably turn to this channel when there's "nothing on".



3. Wolfmother. This is a new band out of Australia that has gone back to the jangling roots of hard core rock-n-roll. They remind me heavily of Led Zeppelin but they manage to make the old school sound seem fresh. Their music makes a good impression and is well timed and executed while completely avoiding being technical or over-produced. Their CD kind of gives the impression that each live version of their songs would be performed slightly differently while remaining completely recognizable. Very unpretentious, you can tell these guys play just for the joy of it. My new favorite band.

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

Calvin has been adding some custom touches to the bike. He color matched the radiator cover, break fluid reservoir cover, and the coil cover. Plus we added the sissy bar, new mirrors, visors for the front signals, and grill covers for the rear signals. Plus blue dots on the rear tail light. Other than that (!) the bike rolled off the showroom floor pretty trick to begin with.

Future customizations will include painting the brake mounts and shift mount plates, plus getting a visor for the headlight, removing the amber light covers and replacing with crystal white covers, and removing the reflectors.

Pretty pretty pretty!!

Posted by Laura at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

Stolen from Jen. I was surprised at a) how many I've read; and b) some of the books that made the list.

-------------------

You know the game. Bold ones you’ve read, strike out any you didn’t finish or thought were awful.

The BBC's "Big Read" - Top 200 best books as voted by BBC viewers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Also:

According to British Librarians - Top 30 Books to Read Before You Die: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1721526,00.html

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All Quite on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

Labels: books, meme

Posted by Laura at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments

I've posted a few new pics over on Flickr, and I've begun listing the books I've read this year on the sidebar - scroll down below my "things" under "Stuff". Thanks to Jen and the 50 book challenge community over at LiveJournal for the idea!

Labels: blogthings, books, meme

Posted by Laura at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

The other day I was trying to put together something and the directions were less than clear, and I couldn't figure it out. I felt an unfamiliar yet familiar feeling - my chest tightened, my movements jerked, my eyes smarted, and my breath hissed from between my teeth.

Good God, I was losing my temper.

My friends, that hasn't happened in YEARS. I mean, I got angry when provoked to it, I've even yelled and slammed things. But it has been so long since I've lost patience over an object that wouldn't cooperate with me, at first I didn't recognize the feeling for what it was.

I didn't know what to do, at first. I just wanted to... break it, or something. I actually had to step away, sit for a second, and try to remember what I used to do when I lost my temper. This time, I worked out HARD while listening to loud music, and that did the trick. Next time, hopefully, I'll be within range of my elliptical and my weight set. If not, well, walking away still does the trick.

It was so weird, though. Like the Effexor and Wellbutrin I've been on for the last several years have managed the emotions for me, without me having to do it for myself. I felt sad when I was supposed to, angry when I was supposed to, happy when I was supposed to, but it's like the emotion was dealt with for me, without me having to think about it. I observed and participated in the feelings, but didn't generate them myself and didn't deal with them myself.

Is this making any sense? ("No, but that's common in head injuries." "My shoes!" Heh. Spot the reference!)

Upon further examination and discussion with Calvin (who really is an excellent listener and advisor), I realized that I was back to having to manage my anxiety again, too. I'm sure I'm having normal levels of the type of anxiety that we all deal with all of our lives, but somehow it seems so much more profound, since I haven't really felt ANY anxiety for a couple of years. I mean, literally, none. Not even the helpful little signals that usually help people get things done... like, "Oh, gee, I better balance the checkbook before we have no money." The meds just made me go, "Eh, it's no big deal." To a LOT of things, I'm now realizing.

Calvin's going to read that paragraph and say, "So that's what her problem was!" Poor guy has been scratching his head at my lack of motivation for a while, now. Well, duh. We both should have realized what was going on.

So, I'm trying to remember how I dealt with anxiety. Action seems to be the answer. Physical energy needs to be expended when I lose my temper... but specific action needs to be taken when I'm anxious. Worrying about money? Balance the checkbook, examine the current status, make a plan. There, I feel better. Worrying about Calvin? Make a phone call, talk to him, search him out wherever he is and get a hug. There, I feel better. Afraid the end of the world is around the corner? Distract myself by reading a book, watching a movie, working on some project I've got going, cleaning the crap out of the house.

I know how to manage my own mind, my own emotions. I probably know better than most people, even. It seems that I just forgot how and actually have to remind myself to do it, now. I knew there would be physical side effects to going off the meds (dizziness, the shakes), and emotional side effects (kind of like PMS for a whole two months, then it was better and I was leveled out). Now I'm having to manage my own, oh, mental stability, if you will.

I used to have all of these mechanisms in place before, when I was a mess. Now that I'm no longer messy, I'm finding I need to still keep a bead on myself. Take stock every now and then and do some self-examination of my behavior and emotions. I can't ignore them anymore and get away with it, because the meds are gone and it's just me keeping an eye on things, now.

I feel kind of dumb, like I just made this great discovery that everybody on Earth already knew about. It's a good thing to look inward on a regular basis to make sure I'm not being an asshole.

Labels: headspace, journal

Posted by Laura at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm posting over at Operation: Goddess again. In case there are any diet voyeurs out there.

Labels: Op:Goddess

Posted by Laura at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments