When it comes to reading novels, I'm terrible about it. I'll get a book, start reading it, and then about halfway through, I put it down and start reading another one. And then after a while, I'll have 3 or 4 different ones on the go, but never actually finishing any of them. It's what happens when I try to read a little bit every day. I'm better at finishing books when I devote an entire day to doing it, even if I have to stay up until dawn to finish it. It's the only way I can do it.
This spring and summer (yep, that far back), I had the following books on the go: The Jade Peony, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Gun Seller (Hugh Laurie authored a novel!), and Twilight. I'm closest to finishing the Jade Peony, but can't remember where I've placed the book anymore. I've got the most motivation to restart Twilight, since the movie is coming out soon, and I prefer reading the books before the movie versions come out.
Every time I go to the bookstore, I want to buy a whole bunch of books, but I know that they'll just wind up sitting around for a good six months or so before I really start reading it. I definitely want to read more though. I think I just have to be more disciplined about it and finish one entire book before starting another. I think I'll restart Twilight first, then finish Jade Peony, then The Gun Seller, and I'll leave The Memory Keeper's Daughter for last. I saw that Douglas Coupand and Maeve Binchy both have new novels out. I like both of those writers. So different, but so good. Anyone have any other book suggestions I should put on my list?
As soon as I came back from lunch today, my lower back started killing me. Like, just suddenly it seized up and it hurt really bad. I had to ask a coworker what I could do to ease the pain, since I know she's all into yoga and pilates. I couldn't do anything about it at work though. It's not like I can just stretch out on the floor or anything. So I had to just suck it up. I was trying to think what I did this morning that would've triggered it, but actually, it was yesterday that I was lifting a whole bunch of heavy boxes. I just assumed that if I had injured my back, it would've started hurting yesterday. But a friend told me that it can take a day or two before it acts up. And I think that's what happened here.
On my way driving home, it was killing me as I was driving. I've tried stretching at home now, but it's still kind of sore. I'll see how it feels in the morning. This is brutal. I've never really had a back problem before. It sucks ass. I should get workers compensation for this! hehe. But seriously, it was from work. Stupid boxes. I guess that whole thing about bending your legs and not your back is true. Great.
This makes no sense to me. I've seen countless episodes of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares (UK version - the US version is poo), and I honestly thought that this man was like 55 -60 years old. Take a look at his face. This is not the face of a hot, young chef like Jamie Oliver or Rocco DiSpirito or Tyler Florence. No, this is the face of a man who's ready to cash in on his old age pension! I was shocked to find out that he's only 41! That can't be right. Those lines in his face are the kind of cavernous crevasses that only an old timer would have, like the rings on a tree trunk!
I did some googling and found that even Tom Colicchio from Top Chef is older than Gordon Ramsey. Wtf?! Tom is 46 - a whole 5 years older than Gordon.
Poor guy. Must be from all the yelling he does at those chefs. Like, every time he says, donkey, f**k, or useless arse, a wrinkle deepens.
Anyway, there's no real point to this post, other than I can't believe he's only in his early 40s.
I heard an old smashing pumpkins song on the radio this afternoon and I forgot how good some of their songs are, especially the lyrics. When I was about 20, I used to worship that band, and I always wanted to marry a guy who could write lyrics like Billy Corgan - the kind that send tingles up your spine and melt your heart. Gawd, I'm such a sap sometimes. lol
I fear that I'm ordinary, just like everyone
To lie here and die among the sorrows
Adrift among the days
For everything I ever said
And everything I've ever done is gone and dead
As all things must surely have to end
And great loves will one day have to part
I know that I am meant for this world
My life has been extraordinary
Blessed and cursed and won
Time heals but I'm forever broken
By and by the way...
Have you ever heard the words
I'm singing in these songs?
It's for the girl I've loved all along
Can a taste of love be so wrong
As all things must surely have to end
And great loves will one day have to part
I know that I am meant for this world
And in my mind as I was floating
Far above the clouds
Some children laughed I'd fall for certain
For thinking that I'd last forever
But I knew exactly where I was
And I knew the meaning of it all
And I knew the distance to the sun
And I knew the echo that is love
And I knew the secrets in your spires
And I knew the emptiness of youth
And I knew the solitude of heart
And I knew the murmurs of the soul
And the world is drawn into your hands
And the world is etched upon your heart
And the world so hard to understand
Is the world you can't live without
And I knew the silence of the world
I got my hair done yesterday at Jason David Hair Studios and it was a pretty good cut. The stylist was great because she's one of those that doesn't talk too much and gets down to business. I can't stand when they're too chatty, because 1) I'm bad at small-talk, and 2) I'd prefer them to concentrate on what they're doing. With this one, there was the right amount of chit chat and hair cutting focus.
Whenever I see the amount of hair on the floor, I start to get nervous, especially when they start cutting off more layers. I've only had one haircut where I went home and cried. That was about a year and a half ago. This one turned out fine. It's funny because I always ask for the same thing - a couple of inches off, long layers, and some long bangs. I've gone to 3 different places for my last 3 cuts, and each has come out differently.
The one before this, I went to Holt Renfew and had my hair cut by some guy who was quick to point out that he "used to work at Frederic Fekkai in Beverly Hills." Well, his big thing was that he made you stand up behind the chair and put your hands on the back on the chair while he cut it. Big deal, he cuts your hair while you stand up. I don't see how that's a mind-blowing technique. Why can't he just step on the pedal to make your chair go higher like every other stylist out there? That's what it's for! Don't get me wrong, it was a nice cut, but it wasn't the best I've ever had, and it wasn't worth what I paid.
Anyway, this one, she styled it pretty nice and I wish I had taken a picture, because there is no way in hell that I will ever be able to make my hair look like this on my own. Once I wash it out in a little while this morning, there will be no successful recreation of this hairstyle, and no one will ever know what it was supposed to look like. Such a shame. If only I could blow dry my hair straight with a rolling brush like the stylists do. How do they make the bottom curl like that?! Oh well, time to wash out the new, and back in with the old!
Just read about Hurricane Ike ravaging the Houston area, and it sounds like another Katrina-type catastrophe. Apparently, about 300,000 residents chose not to leave and now the emergency crews have to go back in to try to find survivors. At first, you think to yourself, why did these people not leave after the warnings? But then, you know, I'm sure that some people just didn't have the means to leave. It's one of those tough situations.
With so many people displaced right now and with so many homes and businesses destroyed, the next while is going to be really hard on those affected. My thoughts and prayers go out to them all.
Over the summer, Weezer held a few "hootenannys" around the country, inviting fans who can play instruments to join them to basically jam and play some songs together. Was watching some of the videos from various hootenannys, and this one here looks like it turned out the best.
Here's the San Francisco hootenanny, and this is a cover of Radiohead's Creep. The guy on the mic is one of the fans that Weezer assigned to sing lead. You can still see Rivers Cuomo and the rest of the band singing and playing their instruments, but you can also see how they wanted the emphasis in these hootenannys (I love that word) to be on fan inclusion. It's pretty cool if you're one of those people there.
At lunch today, I was walking across campus when I saw some guy walking out of Brock Hall wearing this gigantic sign that said, "I support The Taliban", and on the back it said, "Ji-had". He was walking alongside some other guy who was riding a bike. I think the guy on the bike was just asking him questions or something. As soon as I saw it, I just rolled my eyes. It's like, okay, I get it. You're exercising your right to free speech, and I'm sure you're just trying to purposely push buttons to get a reaction. But give me a break. Whether you did that as a stunt, or whether you really feel that way, it's kind of a stupid thing to do.
I saw this campus security guy near me on his walkie talkie telling other security about it. It's one of those things where technically, the guy hasn't broken any laws and isn't actually disrupting the peace or anything. He was just walking around with a sign that had a provocative message on it. And you know the guy's going to have security all over his ass.
At first, it crossed my mind that security is over-reacting, but then when you think about it some more - the thing is, in this day and age, with all kinds of crap happening everywhere, can you blame security for being proactive? I mean, there's all kinds of crazy people out there and it's scary to think that all it takes is for one of them to snap at the wrong moment. And when someone wears a huge sign like that, they're obviously trying to make a statement and tell you something.
To publicly say that you support an oppressive organization like that is basically saying that you're against the free democratic governments of the world. Screw civil liberties! Screw women's rights! Screw the western world! This is what that guy was saying - I don't know, maybe it was a social experiment to see how people would react. But either way, when you put something like that out there, you're basically telling the people around you that you're ready to fight, verbally or otherwise.
The week from hell has finally ended and I made it through!!! Yaaaaaaaay!!!!
Doesn't happen that often, but every now and then, you get hit by one of those weeks where absolutely nothing goes right and everything is slow and painful. This week was like that for me. Every possible problem that could go wrong at work went wrong. There were a couple of times where I was on the verge of tears at my desk. My eyes were welled up but I managed to keep it in and not actually cry. It's part of my suck-it-up-and-just-deal-with-it attitude that I've been forcing myself to take on lately.
I think the best thing to do - and this may sound dumb - is to just not care. By that, I mean that you shouldn't take stuff personally, and definitely don't take your problems home with you. Just deal with it as a matter-of-fact issue and things are a lot easier. It's when you're emotionally invested in something that you get really stressed out. Sometimes you can't help that, but when possible, I think it's good way to be. Just don't care. (Maybe Nike will adopt that in their future marketing campaigns? Just Don't Care. lol - very inspiring.)
And thank God for flex days and sunshine and for making every single problem this week magically resolve itself and disappear! Yaaaaaaay!!!! (Can you tell I'm in a good mood??)
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