Finally a place to catalog my favorite reads: Good Reads.
The Queen 28 May 2007
We went over to Amy’s this afternoon for pizza and “The Queen,” two things that are probably not shared in the same sentence very often (does the Queen eat pizza? One will probably never know.) The movie was fabulous. I have to admit that quiet, intellectual movies are usually not my type. But then again NPR used to not be my type either.
The movie got me wandering about the role of the royals in the lives of the British. What do they mean? Obviously not all citizens agree with or even like the monarchy. But would there even be anything to compare them to for us? How would the feelings brought out by the death of a queen, for instance, compare to those for a President in office?
I tried Googling for my answer but to no avail. I will have to do some research.
E-Mail Forwards 26 May 2007
I have a question. How is it that the same America-loving, patriotic, God-fearing people that send me forwards like, “Pictures of soldiers helping people in Iraq” and “Pray for Our Troops” are the same ones that send me the “How to fold a $20 bill to make it look like the twin towers and pentagon are burning?”
Let’s make up our minds, folks – is the government here to protect us or to lie to us?
This American NightLife 23 May 2007
So I usually don’t want to ramble on about the stupidest, most personal things that are going on with me. I know very few people would actually enjoy such posts (my mother in law being possibly one of the only ones, and perhaps my hubby although he’s already heard everything). However, I just had the weirdest dream and I thought I’d share it. I think it reveals how much my tastes have changed since discovering that I actually enjoy NPR.
First, a preface – a class in high school screwed up National Public Radio for me. I took a Current Events class thinking, “Oh good, we’re going to actually discuss what’s going on in the world. We’re going to bring in news clippings and for once I’m going to be on top of things.” It was true that we did talk about what was going on in the world. And the teacher was a little scatterbrained so we didn’t actually get around to doing the projects we were supposed to do. But the good parts about the class were totally blown away by the dreaded NPR Quiz.
Every morning before class, as we were all getting ready for school (and these were 17 year olds at 6:00 in the morning, mind you), we were supposed to be listening to NPR’s “Morning Edition.” And we were not only supposed to be listening to it, we were supposed to be paying attention and taking notes so that we could spit out any inane detail for a series of quizzes that would make up 20% of our final scores. Did we talk about what we heard that morning on NPR and why those particular inane details were important to remember? No. We did not. So there’s the back story of my past hate relationship with what is now what I listen to almost exclusively.
Okay back story aside, now I listen to NPR all the time. I think two big factors into this decision were marrying Tom and getting a job that is 30 minutes away (the longest I’ve ever had to drive for a job). At first it was just out of desperation – I was SO TIRED to listening to the sae crappy music every morning. But then I actually began to be interested in what I was hearing. I started to be more up on current events that my co-workers (achem, not a hard feat). And then I started to Podcast all my favorite shows – my two favorite being “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” and “This American Life.”
Phew. There we have it, so back to the dream. I had a dream last night that I had a crush on Ira Glass. And not only did I have a crush on him, but we were seeing each other sort of secretly. We were seeing each other in a non-sexual manner but you could tell both of us wanted to take the relationship to a higher level.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Having dreams about wanting to cheat on your husband! Unbelievable!” But wait, there’s more: in this dream Tom didn’t even exist. I was actually dating my best friend Kristi at the time! (Neither of us is gay, and it’s not like we had a sexual relationship in the dream either. It was just a title or something.)
So first I had to break up with my best friend. Yikes. And then I had to tell her that I wasn’t actually gay. Yikes. And THEN I had to tell her that I had a crush on Ira Glass and that we were going to start a relationship.
I wouldn’t have imagined 8 years or even 4 years ago that NPR radio stars would be hopping around in my psyche at night. But I guess that’s what happens when you relent yourself to actually LIKING the stuff.
I’d like to think that I might ace those quizzes now. Maybe.
Is there a commandment…. 22 May 2007
…that goes something like this, “Thou shalt not hate those who have life’s bounties fall into their laps”?
Or maybe, “Thou shalt not hate those who only email you when they have life’s bounties fall into their laps”?
Chicago on My Own 21 May 2007
I wrote a large entry in my journal (you know, those bound things that you write in with pen or pencil and can use even where there isn’t wireless internet) about this weekend (specifically Saturday) in Chicago, and it ended up being really long. I’m just going to post the first part here.
5/19/07 9:30AM I began my day in the big city on my own with a walk to Navy Pier. The city is so barren in the morning, between the early hours when commuters rule the streets ad the later hours when tourists begin to emerge with their cameras and maps (guilty, guilty.) It’s strange to walk streets as one of few when I knew that later I would get swept in a sea of people. So it was actually pretty calming.
I always begin a trip like this trying as hard as possible to fit in, not pulling out the map right away and not taking pictures of absolutely everything. But doing this only gets me next to no pictures to sort when I get home hopelessly lost. So this time I gave up from the beginning and had both my map and camera at the ready for when I got to Navy Pier.
There is a lot to do at Navy Pier if you want to shop for knick-knacks or spend a lot of money on a boat ride. I don’t, and more importnatly can’t, so my main purpose here is to get exercise, take some cool pictures an enjoy Chicago at a pace slower than usual. Past the junk shops and boat rides I settle in at the end of the pier, where it’s breezy but sunny and warm. I see other solitary people here – more than I would have imagined here – and it’s refreshing to see that I’m not the only one wandering around by myself.
Chicago 17 May 2007
I’m venturing out this weekend to do something that’s a bit different/far out for me. I’m going to wander around the city of Chicago all by myself for a whole day. Tom has an emergency medicine conference, and I’m tagging along because hey, it’s Chicago. I tried to get my mom to meet me up there, to no avail. And then I racked my brains to think of people that I know IN Chicago, but everyone has moved away save my sorority sister Anna, who I will be seeing for coffee Saturday afternoon.
So all throughout the week I’ve been thinking, what am I going to do? Tom said I should just stick around the area and shop. I think when he says this he means “Look around but don’t you dare buy anything because you know we’re getting low on green.” Sticking around the area of the hotel means I could spend the entire day on Navy Pier, which isn’t a frightful prospect. But something is tugging at me telling me that this will be the biggest chunk of time I will have all weekend and that I should pick something specific to do with that time. Like go to the art institute, which I haven’t done in ages, or maybe hit up the Shedd Aquarium (although I think Tom would be disappointed if I did that one without him).
I’ll probably end up carrying my laptop around and meeting Anna and then settling in an area that has free wi-fi for the entire afternoon. It usually ends up happening something like that. So if anyone has any suggestions about what fun things I could do on Saturday while Tom’s in conferences, let me know. Suggestions are always welcome! 
Exclusively “Life is Good” T-Shirts 16 May 2007
I’m going to tell you about my secret ambition. No, it’s not to be a famous writing or lawyer, although those things are certainly desirable. My mom always said that she had this great athlete inside of her, waiting to come out. My secret ambition is similar, although it’s not to be a great athlete.
My secret ambition is to be “outdoorsy.”
And I’m not talking just for the style of clothing, I’m talking someone who takes every single waking moment away from work and home life to be outside.
I was reminded of this ambition this weekend, as I embarked on my second camping trip ever. My coworkers made great fun of me for thinking I was really going on a camping trip – the site and park are only about 10 minutes away from where I work. Regardless, we were staying in Bay City State Park, or something like that, and it looked gorgeous on the internet. Of course everything looks gorgeous on the internet, right?
To my pleasant surprise, it was. Our camp site was a hop, skip and a jump away from the Bay, which is beautiful (albeit very chilly very muddy this time of year). The site wasn’t very crowded, partially because it was so early in the season, and partially because everyone else had actually listened to the weather report and knew it was going to be down in the 30’s both nights of the weekend.
We had lovely campfire dinners both Friday and Saturday nights, and a big campfire breakfast Sunday morning of thick-cut bacon, eggs, and toast toasted on a skewer over the fire. I think that maybe the style of cooking is the number one reason I want to be outdoorsy – everything tastes better outdoors or at least if it’s cooked outdoors (especially if it’s grilled). I justified eating hot dogs, thick cut bacon and eggs by taking a 5 mile hike on Saturday through the state park.
We hiked through young forest and marshland, encountered a little bit of wildlife (a baby turtle, red-winged blackbirds), and took pretty pictures (well Brian took pretty pictures, I took mediocre pictures). We were dirty and cold pretty much the whole time. But still. It made me want a wardrobe exclusively made up of “Life is Good” t-shirts. Having the dogs there made it extra-outdoorsy, even though Sadie was a pain in the butt.
And now that we’re back I want to go again. Even if it’s not a whole weekend of camping, I want to go find a trail and hike again. Brian is always talking about going off and hiking by himself in the wilderness, and now I think I’m catching whatever it is that he has. Hopefully soon I’ll catch thick-soled feet, too.
So there it is. My secret ambition. Not that it is or ever was, really, a secret. It just sounds better that way.
Maybe some post I’ll actually talk about my secret ambition, but for now it’s so secret I don’t even remember what the hell it is!
Camping 15 May 2007
We spent two 40-degree nights out in tents this past weekend. Who knows what made us do it, but now that I’m back in the real world I can think of a couple reasons.
#1: No work.
#2: No laundry/vacuuming/grocery shopping/dishes
#3: S’mores, hot dogs, bacon and eggs
#4: Taking a 5 mile hike in the woods with the dogs and not having a care in the world.
#5: Wearing the dogs out for the next two days straight.
Oh yeah, I remember now…
I’ll write a longer post about camping later. Right now I have to go to work on my day off. Tradeoff: I have Friday off to trek to Chicago with Tom – Adventure time!
More Playing Around with Snuffle, my New Mac 8 May 2007
Today we salute you, Mr. Flesh-Eating Zombie.
(Mr. Flesh-Eating Zombie)
Any yay-hoo can say they really do eat human flesh,
but nobody can shuffle down a deserted street quite like you.
(Groan Baby Groan)
There you stand, eyeing the young mother down the street with what looks like a delectable appetizer.
(Go For It, Buddy!)
Utensils? You don’t need no stinking utensils.
(No!)
And even though you are no longer technically alive, you never fail to soak up life.
(Soak it up!)
So crack open an ice-cold Bud Light, human flesh-eater, because chasing down dinner is no easy feat.
(Mr. Flesh-Eating Zombie)
