Final thought of 2008

Alright, it's really going to be two thoughts, mostly because I don't want to seem completely shallow.

1. I'm just starting The Audacity of Hope, and I've listened with interest to the preparation that President-Elect Obama has been making (yay, science!), and man, I am glad I voted for that guy.

2. I am totally, utterly annoyed that Heath Ledger is stealing all of Robert Downey, Jr.'s thunder this year just because he died. There. I said it. The Dark Knight was a trainwreck of a movie, nothing compared to Iron Man, and Downey, Jr.'s performance in Tropic Thunder blows The Joker out of the water. I am not looking forward to award season and seeing who the hell ever gets to go up and accept awards snivel over and over again about Heath Ledger while RDJ just sits there and looks like a hot, hot guy who fixed his shit instead of shuffling off the mortal coil. So there.

Awesome book of the day

Joyce, James, 1882-1941
Finnegans wake / by James Joyce
London : Faber and Faber ; New York : Viking, 1939


Limited first edition. 425 copies, numbered and signed. I think what gets me is holding such a book, maybe taking it in hand to write the call number in the back, and thinking "James Joyce held this book in a very similar manner, almost 70 years ago." It's not the 70 years that's so impressive in this case, but rather the James freaking Joyce part.

This is when I really love my job.

War economy?

I've just finished reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, which might be my biggest accomplishment in 2008. I've actually been "reading" it for a couple of years now, half a chapter at a time, usually after I'd read another entire book or two. About a month ago I decided that enough was enough, and I was going to just finish the bloody thing already. There was quite a feeling of excitement upon finishing, let me tell you. I might have "raar"ed and thrown the book down (gently, of course). I'm not telling. But anyway, I had a point to make here.

One of the things that Zinn focuses quite a lot on is the way in which the US government, quite often, chooses to control society and the economy by engaging in wars. He makes his point quite clearly, and I started to think about how, in my memory, that's been true, what with the Bushes and the Middle East. I've also been thinking about how (if at all) the Obama presidency will differ from the way the government has been operating for a really long time. Obama does not fall into the standard mold, and so even if he represents the upper classes in his personal situation in life, he's still outside of that white, Anglo-Saxon (to coin Zinn's description of the presidency in general) box. Back to the war economy idea ... at one point in reading I chortled to the husband that at least with the way things are now, Obama was unlikely to fall back on that sort of operation. However, I'm rethinking that. Is it possible that we will just pull out of Iraq and jump right into Afghanistan? I guess what I am not sure about (being, you know, in no way qualified to talk about this sort of thing) is whether or not the "war economy strategy" will even work at this point, seeing as we're already knee-deep in such nonsense and it's certainly not doing anything for the economy right now.

I guess what I'm getting at is just that I hope the mold is good and broken. I hope that Obama is different enough to shake things up, and I hope that the system has reached the point where it no longer functions, and we need a new system. Fingers crossed, eh?

This is what I get for listening to NPR on the way to work...sometimes it's worth it, though, if only to hear Steve Inskeep say "SuperPoke!"

Sexy.

There is no point to this post other than to declare that I think the song "Come On Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson is damn sexy. Even if he himself is not particularly.

Yes? No?

To be read:

"Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen."

~First paragraph of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence.

The first American edition* is sitting just to the left of me, waiting to be cataloged. That first paragraph is fabulous. Why haven't I read this yet?

*Fine, so it's not the first Am. edition, but rather a reprint claiming to be such. Not that it matters, but I feel the need to truthfully represent the collection.

Meme? Here?

1. What's your name?
Samantha. What's yours?

2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Black.

3. Last thing you ate?
Lunch.

4. One place you will NEVER eat?
I tend to avoid McDonald's, but try to never say never.

5. I say 'shotgun,' you say:
Wedding?

6. Last person you hugged?
Andrew.

7. Does anyone you know wanna date you?
I don't know. I hope so. It's good for my ego.

8. Would you date anyone you met online?
I think I have...

9. Name something you like about your physical self:
I like my muscles.

10. The last place you went out to dinner?
Desert Moon Cafe.

11. Who is your best friend?
My husband.

12. What time of the day is it?
2:45 pm.

13. Who/What made you angry today?
Hearing Saxby Chambliss' victory speech on NPR. RAGE.

14. Baseball or football?
Baseball on TV, football live. Fencing FTW.

15. Ever gone skinny dipping?
I don't think so, actually.

16. Favorite type of food?
Sushi.

17. Favorite holiday:
Christmas.

18. Do you download music?
I did when I had a gift certificate to iTunes...

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty?
No.

20. Opinion of Chinese symbol tattoos?
I don't really care, but I will mock you if you are not fully aware of what your tattoo means.

21. Would you date the person who posted this?
No. She's definitely not my type. Lovely, but no.

22. Has anyone ever sung or played for you personally?
Yep.

23. Do you love anyone?
Lots of people.

24. Are colored contact lenses sexy?
That would depend on the color.

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
No, but I think about it sometimes.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting?
Sort of. The rapids weren't very ... rapid-y, though.

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
A few. Some successfully.

28. How many pets do you have?
2 kitties.

29. Have you met a real redneck?
I am from Georgia. You figure it out.

30. How is the weather right now?
Not cold enough.

31. What are you listening to right now?
Deep Blue Something.

32. What is your current favorite song?
"Busby Berkeley Dreams" by The Magnetic Fields.

33. What was the last movie you watched?
An Ideal Husband. It was fun!

34. Do you wear contacts?
Yes, quite.

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
Work, fencing.

36. What are you afraid of?
Spiders and death.

37. How many piercings have you had?
Three.

38. What further piercings do you want?
I keep saying I'll get an upper ear one...

39. What's one thing you've learned this year?
So many things that I can't think of just one.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Either a chai latte or hot tea.

41. What Magazines are you reading?
I subscribe to Self and Vegetarian Times.

42. Have you ever fired a gun:
Ick.

43. Are you missing someone?
Sure.

44. Favorite TV show?
Don't really have a favorite.

45. Do you have an obsession with WoW?
No, but I like The Guild.

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
Yes.

47. Which celeb do you look like?
I usually get Christina Ricci. I've also heard Winona Ryder, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, and Audrey Hepburn. No, seriously.

48. Who would you like to see right now?
Oh, you know, in a perfect world Robert Downey, Jr. would show up to do some research for a role...

49. Favorite movie of all time?
Singing in the Rain. I normally don't do favorites but I made an executive decision on this one.

50. Do you find yourself loved?
Yes.

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to?
Of course.

52. Favorite smell?
Rain? I dunno.

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
Butter butter butter.

54. What's something that really bugs you?
Nearly everything at some point in time.

55. Do you like Michael Jackson?
I am ambivalent towards the Gloved One.

56. Taco Bell or Burger King?
Taco Bell, hands down.

57. What's your favorite perfume?
Anything "amber".

58. Favorite baseball team?
Go Twins!!

59. Ever call a 1-900 phone number?
I don't think so.

60. What's the longest time you've gone without sleep?
I've probably done about 24 hours.

61. Last time you went bowling?
Oh geez. In Bloomington? With Mari and Davin? Maybe?

62. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
Please, I have enough trouble sleeping at home.

63. Who was your last phone call?
Probably Andrew. Or Ben.

64. Last time you were at work?
Currently.

65. What's the closest orange object to you?
My sweater's kind of orange...

Cut that out!

injunction:
1. The act or an instance of enjoining: order,admonition
2. A writ granted by a court of equity whereby one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act.

Enjoining? To direct or impose by authoritative order or with urgent admonition.

Brought to you by Howard Zinn and the ever-present M-W.com.

Celebrity baby names: WTF?

Do you think that there are out there in the world tons of ridiculous names, and that it is just because they are in the public eye that it seems as though celebrities come up with the craziest ones? I mean, maybe there's lots of other kids out there with names like Zuma and Apple and Pilot Inspektor and we just don't know about it because their parents aren't famous. Whatever the case, here's the newest crazy effing name, granted to a child who will, no doubt, get eyeliner and black nailpolish for Christmas and who will be beaten up because his dad is Pete Wentz, notwithstanding the fact that his name is Bronx Mowgli Wentz. Honestly, given the parents, we should have expected something insane, but wow. Just, wow.

Welcome to the world. Sorry, kid.

WOD: lucubrations

Don't ask me. Shows up in Special Collections a fair amount, though. Fancy word from the 18th-19th centuries, having something to do with miscellaneous sort of writings.

Hit me, Merriam Webster: "laborious or intensive study ; also : the product of such study —usually used in plural."

You're on your own with pronunciation ... I'm still practicing.

Edification, courtesy of NPR

This morning, there were a few things I decided to look up after hearing them discussed on NPR. I will say that again, I had sort of the gist of them, but wanted some clarification. Here we go!

pragmatic:According to Merriam Webster Online, if something is pragmatic, it is "relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters : practical as opposed to idealistic." While I don't really like the bit about excluding intellectual matters, seeing as this was in reference to Obama's team of economic advisers, I'm mostly glad to hear it. Wasn't he supposedly going to be the idealism king? I don't really think that exclusion is valid in this particular instance, Obama being fairly intellectual. Anyway.

I've also decided that, since I'm attempting to pay closer attention to the workings of our governement, it's a really good time to learn some things since Obama is choosing his cabinet and filling all these positions, etc. To that end, the first nomination, apparently, is for the position of Attorney General, that going to one Eric Holder. "Attorney General" seems to be more or less a simple concept; my guess would be that what we're talking about here is kind of the head lawyer for a presidential administration. According to the website of the Department of Justice, "the Judiciary Act of 1789 created the Office of the Attorney General which evolved over the years into the head of the Department of Justice and chief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government. The Attorney General represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive departments of the Government when so requested. In matters of exceptional gravity or importance the Attorney General appears in person before the Supreme Court. Since the 1870 Act that established the Department of Justice as an executive department of the government of the United States, the Attorney General has guided the world's largest law office and the central agency for enforcement of federal laws." So that's what he does. For extra edification, the mission statement of the Department of Justice is "to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans." I guess the only thing that confuses me a little here is the bit about being the "chief law enforcement officer", which just makes the AG sound like a policeman. I suppose, though, that since law enforcement does fall to the Judicial branch of government (as opposed to the other two) that it's all the same, really. It's just the use of the term "officer" that throws me, I think.

Kindly do not make fun of me - I was never a good student, and the last time I studied government would have been 10 years ago, so there. I'm doing well to remember what little I do. At any rate, it's never too late to learn things, right? [Right.]

Personal Word of the Day

Upon encountering a word for which I do not know the definition, I shall look it up and post my findings here. To wit, a short story, by Walter de la Mare, entitled "The Froward Child". Froward is a word that I've often read, and I more or less understand in the context that it means "difficult", but my curiosity was piqued, regardless. Merriam-Webster Online says: habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.

That sounds much grander than "difficult", doesn't it?

Womanizer

I appreciate a good pop song as much as the next kid, but the chorus of "Womanizer" is nothing more than two lines, "musically" stuttered. Can't Britney afford a better writing team? Also, the video is ... strangely inane. What's with the hair-tossing? "Look! The wigs stay on!" It mostly seems like an excuse for Britney to be artfully naked so we can see that she's got her body back. I'm sure that I'm just getting older, but seriously, pretty much any Madonna song/video prior to the year 2000 is better than this. Hell, Katy Perry is better than this.

Motherhood vs. Candidacy

There was a story on NPR this morning about how many people (apparently mostly women) are taking issue with Sarah Palin's vice-president candidacy on the grounds that she ought to be more concerned about her children than her political career. I have to say that, despite being a fairly liberally-minded woman, and not a mother, I am inclined to agree. However, as in all things, I'm looking for perspective. Some of the women interviewed made the claim that she should be putting her children first, some women said that it was not the business of anyone else to judge her parenting skills, and the point was also made that, in general, the United States public is not concerning itself with whether or not Obama (or McCain, for that matter) ought to be putting the needs of his children first. Ah yes, the ever-present cry of sexism. I've got a couple of points I want to make here, in reverse order.

1. It's true that nobody is saying Barack Obama ought to be at home taking care of his kids. However, I would point out that, to the best of my knowledge, nobody said that about Hillary Clinton, either. I think that we have to look at each individual situation. It really does have a certain amount to do with the age of the children involved. Chelsea Clinton was already a teenager by the time her mother was running for the US Senate, never mind the presidency. Sarah Palin has five children, of which (assumedly) all but one still live at home, and one of which is not even a year old and has Downs' Syndrome. It is my personal belief that yes, her children still need a greater degree of parental involvement from both parents. Let's not even get into the discussion about Palin's eldest daughter, who obviously had need of parental guidance and didn't get it. I will also say that I've read some interviews with the Obamas in which they address their methods in raising their children, and they talked a lot about how they functioned as a team and about how they worked hard to be present and keep the lines of communication open with their kids. I admit that their presented ideas about children agree strongly with my own at this point, so I'm inclined to applaud them on that count, but it still just seemed very healthy to me.
2. I agree that it is not the place of anyone else to judge Palin (or anyone) on the manner in which she chooses to raise her kids. (Or what she names them ...wtf?)However, I think that we can take something away from the situation in terms of how she handles/looks at responsibility. Kids are the biggest responsibility anyone, adult or otherwise, can take on, and I think that more important than the issues of sexism involved is the question of whether or not a person has really given serious thought to how much other activity can go on at the same time as the attempts to maintain a family. Maybe she really is a superwoman who can balance it all, but I think that maybe I'd rather see someone opt out of an activity out of concern that it might be too much as opposed to taking it all on and waiting for "too much" to present itself.
3. Finally, yes. I do think that it is somewhat selfish for Palin to try for one of the biggest jobs in the country when she's got 4 kids at home, one with extra-special needs, and an imminent grandchild whose parents are still children themselves.What it is mostly about is those children: people who probably need Mrs. Palin more than the country does. What's that saying? "(Insert noun here) starts at home"? There are many ways in which a person can make this country/world a better place, and I think that raising good people is one of them. It's got nothing to do with sex to me. I have thought a fair amount about the effect that the election/presidency will have on Obama's kids, too. Maybe that's where my personal politics come in in addition to more information regarding the Obamas stance on how they're raising their kids. I've read a bit about that, so I feel as though they've addressed the issue. Perhaps we should give Palin time to sound off a bit more on the subject. I just get the feeling that it will be contradictory to what she stands for in a lot of other ways. I'm not sure you can really wave the "conservative hockey mom" flag while you're out there stumping and a nanny takes care of your kids. You're young, Mrs. Palin. Why not give it a few years, let your kids grow up, and then run for president?

Again, just my opinion. I admit to being highly liberal and thinking that Sarah Palin is only about two steps down from Ann Coulter as it is. I admit that I'm not a parent yet, so I don't fully know what I'm talking about. I'm planning on being a parent sooner rather than later, though, so I think about the topic a lot. Finally, I admit that my arguments aren't airtight. In typing them out I've seen plenty of holes, and I've questioned my own statements a time or two. Like I said, though, all I ask is perspective. Mine's not perfect either, but at least I'm trying to think about the issue rather than just throw out a black and white answer devoid of thought. We've got enough of that floating around these days, don't you think?

Blogging a blog

One of my sites that gets checked every day is IMDb. They quite often have interesting links and news items that an entertainment culture nerd like myself gets a kick out of. Today, I'm particularly enjoying this link: Cinematical Seven: Children's Books That Need to be Filmed Immediately. I have to admit that I haven't read 3 of the 7 (perhaps incentive to correct that...), but Cinematical gets major points from me for mentioning two of my favorite books from my childhood; namely Ghosts I Have Been and Jackaroo. I would love to see either of those on the big screen, and I'm really going to have to go read them over again, now. There might be some book-buying in my future. Hrm.

Anyway. Check it out! You might find something to read...

Under the radar catablogging

Alright, so I'm not officially blogging at work yet, but I'm just so excited by this particular item that I'm jumping the gun.
Mary : a fiction
[Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797]
London : Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-Yard, MDCCLXXXVIII [1788]

This is the first edition of Mary Wollstonecraft's first and only novel before she went on to write A Vindication on the Rights of Women. Wikipedia calls this novel "an important development in the history of the novel because it helped shape an emerging feminist discourse." In checking the catalog for a Wollstonecraft bibliography, I came upon John Windle's Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin 1759-1797, which is a very nice and detailed bibliography, complete with transcriptions, collational formulas, and title-page facsimiles. Our copy is, sadly lacking the half-title, which Windle says is "required", but it does have the manuscript "correction" on page 178. I'm not positive whether or not a copy without the half-title is of a different edition, etc. but it seems as though the manuscript point would still indicate the first edition. Either way, I think this is pretty sweet, so sue me.

Random rare book revelations

So, post-RBS, I have (mostly unsurpisingly) lost momentum, but seem to have settled into what I think is an upward climb in terms of cataloging. Writing a policy is on hold because there's just too much prior information to be slogged through. I've had occasion to get my hands on some leftover 16th century items in the Dewey collection, so attempts are being made to get those cataloged in proper(ish) DCRMB format. Last week I felt as though I'd learned just enough to be dangerous -- this week I have felt quite inadequate, but it's getting better. I'm refreshing things learned in grad school, putting into practice things learned at RBS, and I think I'm starting to churn out some reasonably pretty records. I've learned that truly, most collational formulae are not that complex, that it's really fun/exciting to correctly identify printers' devices, and that 16th century French printers often used "lz" as a substitute for "k". I'm quite getting the hang of the whole "u/v" problem, but I must say that even when you know you're transcribing correctly, it's really frustrating to write down something as a "u" when in modern terms it would be a "v". And boy, do I ever need to learn Latin. I sort of know what words ought to look like, so I can usually tell what's missing with contractions, but it'd be nice to know what the words mean.

All in all, I guess I am feeling much more comfortable and confident about this gig, and that's worth a lot. Now then, this here book is not gonna collate itself. Once more into the fray...

Oh. I meant to make a note of the things that are still problematic. I am still very confused by 240s and 246s, still afraid of describing bindings, and don't quite get the concept of the order of 500 notes. I'm trying to remember to plug in 752s in OCLC, but apparently they don't transfer out. What I need to do is compile a list of the areas I'm doing and just make sure that my records go down the checklist. Hmm.

Purposefully vague

Isn't it funny how in just the right set of circumstances, some action from your past that you've never really questioned suddenly seems other than what it was? What's that Meatloaf song? "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are". As though looking backwards suddenly makes one wistful, makes the past rosy, makes us forget what we really thought/felt and unconsciously remember it differently. Can't go back but wouldn't even if you could, so what's the difference?

How ridiculous.

Briefly

A few words to remind myself that I (might) have a lot to say and (definitely) have a lot to do following my experience at Rare Book School. Of first order, though, is actually getting home again, so signing off from hotel a la Charlottesville. Miles to go before I sleep...

Tall order

Ever been to freewillastrology.com? Here's mine for the day.

LEO:
ButlersGuild.com named Mr. Ravi Shankar as its Butler of the Year. Serving as Head Butler of the Qasr Al Sharq hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Shankar "always acts with complete integrity in everything he does." Your simple yet arduous assignment, Leo, is to be worthy of that same description. Are you up to the challenge? Can you be morally and ethically impeccable, between now and noon on June 18, in every single thing you do and say and think? Do you have the willpower to be absolutely free of hypocrisies, deceits, and manipulations? Can you refrain from speaking derisive or careless words about anyone, while at the same time being rigorously authentic and intent on telling the deepest truths?

Yikes. A worthy challenge, to be sure.

Turn of phrase

There's a phrase that has long confused me, and when I came upon it last night in chapter 2 of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, I attempted to dissect it, and became even more confused than I was before. The phrase in question is "not unkindly". First of all, isn't that a double negative? Not + un? Secondly, it seems to be purposefully contradictory of itself. Let's break it down. First of all, the word kindly. Merriam Webster Online defines kindly as "of an agreeable or beneficial nature". So kindly = good. Moving on to unkindly, which is defined as "not kindly". Nice and succinct, there, MW. Unkindly = bad. Now, "not unkindly". Basically, what we're talking about here, at a very basic level, is not not kindly. It's so ...awkward. Why is it so often used?
The thing that really gets me, though, is how it's used in narrative. I think the reason it's so bloody confusing is that the context is never, ever clear. For example:

When the train at last crawled back into the Prague station early that evening, Josef remained in his seat, unable to move, until a passing conductor suggested, not unkindly, that the young gentleman had better get off.

That could so easily be taken either way. The conductor could be a nice guy and sympathetically tell the poor young man he needed to get off the train, OR he could just as easily be a total jerk and say "Beat it, ya bum." Obviously, given our new clarification of the phrase, the conductor is the former. But really, that double negative confuses us, and we're left unsettled, not entirely sure that we've read it right, and wondering if we're supposed to be feeling any more badly for poor Josef Kavalier than we already are.

Not, perhaps, the most enlightening blog post ever, but hey! Now that I've picked the whole thing apart, I understand it a lot more. And really, it's my blog. Isn't it all about me? I mean that not unkindly. ;)

Bernard Pivot/James Lipton Questionnaire

1. What is your favorite word?
Renaissance.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Mature.
3. What turns you on?
Sarcasm.
4. What turns you off?
Tone-deafness.
5. What sound or noise do you love?
Rain and thunder.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
Retching.
7. What is your favorite curseword?
I think that "fuck" needs no excuses, explanations, or embellishments.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Acting.
9. What profession would you not like to participate in?
Medicine.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"Never mind that whole 'the road to hell' thing; your intentions were good."

Book nerdery: updated

"What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you read 'em for school in the first place."

I saw this list yesterday on one of the book nerd blogs I read, and it looked interesting...I have to admit to looking forward to seeing how many of these I have actually read. Plus, of course, I shall use it as a reference going forward. There are several on the list I've been meaning to get to...

The Aeneid
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay*
American Gods*
Anansi Boys
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
Angels & Demons
Anna Karenina
Atlas Shrugged* (Read multiple times.)
Beloved
The Blind Assassin
Brave New World
The Brothers Karamazov (I'll go back eventually.)
The Canterbury Tales
The Catcher in the Rye* (This is a favorite.)
Catch-22
A Clockwork Orange
Cloud Atlas
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Confusion
The Corrections
The Count of Monte Cristo* (One of the best books ever.)
Crime and Punishment
Cryptonomicon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
David Copperfield
Don Quixote
Dracula* (Another fave.)
Dubliners*
Dune
Eats, Shoots & Leaves* (Everyone should read this.)
Emma
Foucault’s Pendulum
The Fountainhead (Not as good as Atlas.)
Frankenstein* (Classic!!)
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
The God of Small Things
The Grapes of Wrath
Gravity’s Rainbow
Great Expectations* (Awesome.)
Gulliver’s Travels (Didn't like it; ought to try again.)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Historian : a novel
The Hobbit* (Duh.)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Iliad (Not as good as The Odyssey.)
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
The Inferno
Jane Eyre* (OMG Love.)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell* (Reading now!!)
The Kite Runner
Les Misérables
Life of Pi : a novel
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Madame Bovary
Mansfield Park
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlemarch (Awesome.)
Middlesex
Mrs. Dalloway
The Mists of Avalon* (Over and over and over...)
Moby Dick
The Name of the Rose
Neverwhere
1984
Northanger Abbey
The Odyssey
Oliver Twist
The Once and Future King
One Hundred Years of Solitude
On the Road (Sorry, but this is boring.)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Oryx and Crake : a novel
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present (Currently reading.)
Persuasion*
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Quite confusing.)
Pride and Prejudice
The Prince
Quicksilver
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
The Satanic Verses
The Scarlet Letter
Sense and Sensibility
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Silmarillion
Slaughterhouse-five
The Sound and the Fury
A Tale of Two Cities
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Time Traveler’s Wife
To the Lighthouse
Treasure Island
The Three Musketeers
Ulysses (I will go back again someday.)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Vanity Fair
War and Peace
Watership Down*
White Teeth
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
Wuthering Heights
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values

So...how'd I do? 49? Almost half. Not bad! :)

For me to know, having found out -

It may be good ... that romantic love should form the motive for a marriage, but it should be understood that the kind of love which will enable a marriage to remain happy and to fulfill its social purpose is not romantic, but is something more intimate, affectionate, and realistic.

~Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals

Bloody brilliant. Also,

Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence.
~Tom Robbins

A favorite-

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Agaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.


Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

~Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold

Breakthrough?

So, last weekend I fenced in the North Atlantic Sectional Championships. Competitors were from various parts of NY, ME, RI, CT, MA and maybe a few other New England type spots. Vermont? Anyway, there were 50 competitors in Women's Epee - pretty strong event. I had what continues to seem to me a mind-bogglingly good day, and I finished in 3d place. I am WAY excited about this for many reasons, most importantly the fact that it's truly the best fencing I've done in a really long time - possibly ever. It was smart and well-executed. If I had fenced that way and not made it as far as the round of 4 I think I still would have been pretty stoked. To be able to say that I earned a medal, reconfirmed my C (THANK GOD), and qualified to fence Division IA at Nationals (even though I'm not going) is so much really tasty gravy. It's mostly nice to feel as if work and practice is starting to pay off, and maybe I'm going to climb off of my 4 year plateau sometime in the near future.

So, yay. :D

Pretty

Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers
Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
And winter, and it seemed as if they grew
In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.
So, in the like name of that love of ours,
Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,
And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
From my heart's ground. Indeed, those beds and
bowers
Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,
And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,
Here's ivy!-take them, as I used to do
Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.
Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,
And tell thy soul their roots are left in mine.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sweet November

Based off of trivia and quotes from the film Sweet November, it would appear that Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy, c'mon) appears as the cross-dressing, possibly gay best friend character. That might almost be worth watching. What is the world coming to?

Why fencing? (250 words or less)

My friends who run the Phoenix Center, where I now fence, have asked their fencers to write a short essay on why they enjoy fencing. I thought it was an interesting exercise ... mostly to break it down to the gist of the thing and to really look at my thoughts on the subject. I thought it might be worth sharing. Enjoy.

Why do I love to fence? I believe that fencing is a true metaphor for all other aspects of life; both in terms of social existence and internal growth. Involvement in the sport can aid and enhance personal development in a variety of ways.

My favorite aspect of fencing is the fact that anyone can do it. Fencers come in all sizes: short, tall, fat, thin; they come in all ages and colors and from walks of life. I’m not entirely sure there’s another sport that can boast of such diversity. I’ve made lifelong friends through fencing, and I’m always amazed by the range of people who choose to devote some part of themselves to the sport.

Fencing encompasses all of the positives of engaging in an athletic endeavor: fitness, discipline, a sense of pride in one’s performance. Before I took up fencing, I was not a particularly athletically gifted person; now I can move into just about any sport and perform as a reasonable level. It’s helped me stay in shape and been a motivating factor in maintaining exercise habits. It’s developed a healthy sense of competition.

Ultimately, fencing has made me who I am. After sixteen years, I truly believe that I have found all of the best and worst in myself through fencing. I understand my limitations and my strengths, both physically and mentally. Fencing means personal growth, social development, and application of oneself to something that can prove worthwhile for a lifetime.

Resistance is futile

I was thinking this morning about assimilation. Not in scary Borg terms, but just in general. The kind of assimilation that makes us become a minivan-driving soccer mom, or that makes the be-tattooed and pierced mid-twenty something crowd buy their babies' onesies at Hot Topic.

You know, it's all conformity. We're all conforming to something. It is only our own sensibilities that determine what we conform to, at least at the most personal level. I think the point I was trying to get to in my head was that, to a degree, there is nothing wrong with a little bit of conformity. It's the natural byproduct of being a part of human society. There are certain concessions to be made to the social mentality. Accept it. It doesn't have to be a complete destruction of one's personality or beliefs, particularly if it's with regard to something of only marginal importance. Much like the favorite cliche, I'm not saying that if all your friends shoot heroin, you should do the same. I'm saying ... if it's the concession that you have to, say, wear business attire for an interview, suck it up. Is it really that big a deal? Is it life-threatening? Are you really going to spontaneously turn into Donald Trump if you have to wear something other than your usual uniform in order to feed yourself and pay your rent? Look at it this way: it's modern evolution at work. Survival of the fittest. Keep your principles, if you wish, but understand that there may come a time where it's them or you.

It seems to me that there's a fine line to being principled. Great, you've got your guns and you're stickin' to 'em. All I ask is for a little perspective, a little moderation. I think you can stick to your guns in a mature manner and understand that sometimes, well, you're just gonna have to leave those guns at home. I don't think one needs to take such a mandate as some personal indictment of, well, anything. Just means you're behaving like a rational human being. Be yourself at home. Go nuts. Be yourself around your friends. At some point, you will reach a balance and discover that there are ways to even be yourself at work or within the confines of greater society. And it's not selling out. It's being a grown-up. It's surviving. It's Darwin, man.

I don't have a big point to make here; it's just something I was thinking about. I know a lot of younger people who are struggling to find the balance in life between wishing to never be forced not to be themselves, and understanding that sometimes, you're just gonna have to be somebody else for a little while. The point is just not to turn into that other person all the time; rather to combine the necessary traits of Society You with Real You.

I definitely consider myself an individual. I hope to remain one. For me, being an individual means liking what I like and doing what I do, regardless of whether or not someone else thinks it's completely bizarre or completely mainstream. I like Dave Matthews and Fantomas. I enjoy professional sports, but I do think the glorification and pay of professional atheletes is obscene. I like to be esoteric and intellectual sometimes, and sometimes I like to watch television and pay attention to the trainwreck that is Britney Spears. I have my doubts about whether or not marriage as a social function is really the right idea, but I chose to get married and to make that relationship work through active engagement, conversation, and compromise. I would infinitely prefer to spend my time in jeans and flip-flops, but I accept that as an adult, sometimes I have to wear high heels.

Conformity doesn't have to be a four-letter word. Just think of it as a survival tactic, except that instead of developing a longer, pointier beak, you're learning to hold your opinions in check if it will keep you from offending your boss. It's still all about making it home with (and for) dinner.

What kind of flirt are you?

I log out of Myspace, and there it is - one of those annoying and ubiquitous (annoyingly ubiquitous?) flash ads, demanding to know what kind of flirt I am. There are horrifically stereotypical pictures with captions like "Seductive" or "Playful" and what-have-you, and as I'm sitting there looking at it, I realize that there's only one good answer to that question.

"Successful."

All-important questions (XLJ)

Would you watch seven seasons (seven seasons) of a television show that you are only mildly interested in, just for the sake of catching a celebrity you love in something like 4 episodes in the middle of the very last season? Think carefully about that. I just can't countenance it, somehow, and people who know the show seem to think I'll be terribly lost and confused if I just watch those 4 or 5 episodes.

...No, I'm not going to tell you. I'll be impressed if you can guess, though.

Five times?

Maximum Strength Mick asks, "What movies have you watched five times?"

I am totally on board with this. My favorite movies aren't all classics, they're just movies that I love, that never fail to touch me or make me laugh or just have some kind of effect. As such, here are five movies that I can always watch.
Singin' in the Rain
Sense & Sensibility(Ang Lee/Emma Thompson)
Clueless
Amelie
Notting Hill

Some of 'em won Oscars, some of 'em didn't. I love them, though, and I'd totally give them awards. S&S would get the Best Declaration of Love award (Edward to Eleanor), as well as the Most Moving Moment, Non-Verbal award (Brandon after he brings Marianne's mother). Clueless totally gets the Best First Kiss award (Josh & Cher), Notting Hill wins the Most Absurd Storyline that Still Actually Kind of Works award. Singin' in the Rain is just the best movie ever, I think. Amelie has the distinction of being a movie that I can watch and then, as the credits begin to roll, think to myself "I could watch it again..."

So yeah. I'm all for Award Season and celebrating a bunch of movies that very few people outside of Academy members saw, but let's be honest. Who's really gonna buy There Will be Blood on DVD and watch it over and over again? Last of the Mohicans, now, there's a Daniel Day-Lewis movie I've seen five times.

Long live the arguably lowbrow but always enjoyable movie. I'm gonna go home and watch the rest of The 10th Kingdom.

Warm-up

So, I went to a tournament last night. A nearby club hosts monthly, Wednesday night tournaments, not really big affairs, but I think you'll find that it wasn't noticeably a slouch tournament. For the non-fencer, all those Bs and Cs mean pretty decent fencers. Add to that the fact that most of them were men, and they're generally stronger fencers (both literally and figuratively) than a woman of the same ranking. Not always true, but a reasonable guess.
In my pool, I broke even, 2-2. I beat the two other women handily (5-1 in both cases). I lost to the two men 5-3 and 5-4, which I'm perfectly happy with, under the circumstances. Neither of them was completely unbeatable for me.
I actually won my first DE, which I was very happy about, given the guy was quite easily twice my size. And apparently a C himself. Go me! 15-14 makes it look like a crap shoot, but I will say that I fenced well the entire bout, used my head, and was just making less mistakes than he was.
I lost my second DE to the eventual winner, who I'd call a pretty strong B, and I don't think he was unbeatable either. He was doing a lot of showy moves that, had I been focusing on the correct target, I would have made him pay for. I don't think I was what he was expecting at all. I'm really, really happy with 15-10 on a solid (male) B.
So, I finished in 8th. I'm totally happy with that result.

All this is leading up to the fact that I will be in Atlanta this weekend, fencing at the Div I NAC. Again, for non-fencers, a Div I means that you have to be at least a C to compete, and you'll be competing against other Cs as well as Bs and As. It's not mixed, so I'll just be fencing women. Div Is are the big time; the people who will be on the Olympic Team for this year are at these things. I actually warmed up with an Olympic prospect at my last Div I.

What this all means, in very simple terms (if you're actually still reading) is that I will most likely get my ass completely handed to me. But I hope to learn something from that, and I hope to do better than at my first Div I, so we'll see how it goes. I'm definitely on a little bit of a high from last night, so we'll keep that momentum going. I stayed calm, I wasn't terribly sloppy, I did a semi-decent job of evaluating my opponents and altering my game accordingly. So, wish me luck.

Mostly, I'm excited to see old friends, hang out with my brother, and buy new equipment. Gotta pick up the rating this year, otherwise it'll go down, and D08 just doesn't have an attractive ring to it.

That's quite enough fencing talk for a while. Tonight there is nothing more exciting planned than a trip to the gym and Waitress with Nathan Fillion. Mmmm. That He ought to get me through the day.

PS: Just got my re-lo reimbursement check from Vassar, so now it's totally a good day. Squee!

Quote of the Day

The Roycrofters were participants of an arts & crafts community in New York in the 20th century. They had a press and published books that look a lot like stuff from the Kelmscott Press. This quote is from the back of such a publication in pamphlet form.

Hate means a hot-box and sand in the bearings, while love lubricates all the affairs of life.

...awesome.

How Can I Keep from Singing?

It's rather frustrating to not have an office; rather, to work in a rather small area ... I listen to music through my headphones, and sometimes, with a song I like, it's all I can do to keep from singing along. Sometimes it's almost a physical discomfort. How ridiculous.

But oh my love, though our bodies may be parted
Though our skin may not touch skin
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow
I will come on the breath of the wind
~Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then): The Decemberists

Come on
Without you I'll never feel the love inside of me
Come on, you know that we belong
Come on, come on, come on, come on
~Come On: Ben Jelen

Can he really really
really really really
really really be that bad?
~Really That Bad: The Pipettes

Singing boy pick up that fiddle
And play that steel guitar
And find yourself a lady
And dance right where you are
~Private Conversation: Lyle Lovett

There was a time you let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
~Hallelujah: Rufus Wainwright