Bluestalking

Photos of the Day

2009-12-20T12:13:31-06:00

Mother Nature's Sketch Book

Another decent thing about winter - frost patterns on the windows.

And you thought I wasn't capable of being positive.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

2009-12-20T11:51:07-06:00

Almost two thousand reviews for Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and an average of 4.5 stars.

Wow.

I listened to the book on CD, and wouldn't rate it as highly as the Amazon crowd did. In fact, I have to wonder how it came to be this beloved.

Let me backtrack. I thought the characterization was excellent, and the plot as well. A couple of things just deeply bothered me. The cruelty to animals, for example. I haven't buried my head in the sand; I know animal cruelty happens in environments such as circuses, and I believe bringing this to the surface is a good thing, if it results in an end to the injustice. But to listen to it read to me, to picture in my mind the horrors. That I can't stand.

The second thing - she killed off my favorite character. She built him up, drew him realistically, endeared him to my heart. Then she killed him. I know, real life and all that. It doesn't play favorites because a person is lovable. But nonetheless ...

Listening to the audio CD may have been a mistake, too. Having the same character voice both the lead male and female characters is distracting. I could barely stand his take on Marlena. Why didn't they have a female voice her? Other books do. It wouldn't have been nearly as distracting as a disingenuous falsetto.

The story was a good one. The book on CD experience not so much. It felt long; at more than one point I considered giving it up - as much for the animal cruelty as the somewhat drawn out plot line. I didn't, though. I pushed on, and thought the ending sweet and well-deserved. Not realistic, but sweet.

Because of my experience with the audio CD, and the other reasons I mentioned, I can't rate it as highly as the average Amazon reader. Four stars, maybe, but not four and a half. A small difference that may seem, but it really isn't. A half point on such a small scale is significant. Trying not to judge the voice, this is the rating I'd give it. Judging the voice it would be lower. More along the lines of 3.5. Again, that half point difference means a lot.

Keep in mind the extreme animal cruelty if you read the book. And if you read the book, read the book. Unless it's impossible, I don't recommend the audio CD.

Definitely a book that will stay with me, and not in all good ways. Even for me it was depressing, and that says a lot. I love dark books, but the brutality in this one upset me. Still, a great story line.

In a tizzy.

2009-12-18T09:35:15-06:00

I'm in a tizzy of Christmasness. I have the day off, and I'm completely confused as to what to do with it. I know I have a million holiday-related errands, but which to do today? Which? Which?!

That's the problem with me. Well, one of many. Given unlimited freedom I can't get a grip. I need someone to tell me where to go, what to do, how to spend my time. Otherwise I wander like an aimless ... an aimless ... thing that wanders.

Wrapping gifts is one thing on the extended list. That would help me have a better grip on who's who and what's what. The problem is I still have stuff on its way from Amazon, and other virtual places. So, keep a list, you say. Practical, yes, but I tend to lose things like lists. One year I carefully tallied what gifts we were giving the kids, and which were coming from Santa. I lost it. Guess who found it?

Yep. I had to do some fancy talking about how I let Santa know the gifts of which I spoke were things I hoped he'd bring. Because they made my credit cards shiver in terror. The kids sort of half bought it, at least enough for them to fake it a few more years. For the extra gifts.

There's the task of sending off a few more holiday cards, too. There were a couple surprise cards I didn't expect, necessitating return cards. Don't you just hate that? But 'tis the season. You have to be nice to others, even those you barely know. OR ELSE.

Interesting message we give kids at yuletide, isn't it? If you're not good, you get nothing. If you are good, you get all sorts of material things. Because material things are what we give people who are GOOD. Bad people get no taste of capitalistic generosity, because they suck eggs. Rotten, rotten eggs.

Weird, but I guess that's our interpretation of what Christ intended. Though how he managed to be a good newborn I don't know, getting all that myrrh and such. Just what every baby wants. You can never have enough myrrh around the house. Hope it goes on sale soon. I'm running low.

Oh, and don't get me started on Christmas Carols! Some great messages of love and joy in those, too:

"Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb."

Hey, let's party! Pass the eggnog before I get that image out of my head.

Then there's the idea Santa watches you through your windows. Nothing creepy about that. Otherwise, we'd call him a pervert. At the least a peeping Nicholas, and call the cops on him:

"Officer, there's a man in a red suit looking at me through my windows. I woke up and he was standing there, staring at him. And his reindeer? They completely stomped my garden, leaving droppings everywhere. One of them even has a red, glowing nose. Arrest that man!"

Shortly after that, he'd hang up on you. "Weirdo," he'd say.

The decorating I've finished - at least all I'm doing. It's pretty sad, actually, but I'm going the simple route this year. Certainly, it's more than I wanted to do. It doesn't look like a Christmas factory blew up in my house like it used to, in the old days. The tree is up, the mantle embellished by a handful of Santas from my collection. The stairway features a lighted garland, and every holiday card we get is taped to the kitchen doorway. Outside the house are "icicle" lights, which look like the natural thing - if they're attached to cords and multi-colored. We didn't stick our lighted deer in the ground, the ones that look as if they have Parkinson's Disease, then break less than a week into the season.

Wish you could see the Santa decoration down the street. Talk about creepy. It's a real-looking thing sitting in an easy chair, waving and shaking his head back and forth, I guess in an attempt to say, "Dream on, suckers! The recession hit the North Pole, too. Be happy with the sugar plums dancing in your heads, 'cause Santa's portfolio bit the big one."

I think I have my list ready. Miracle of miracles! See, and people say blogs are just navel-gazing. BAH! The world's a richer place for my having discussed my errands of the day with you. Could you have rested comfortably otherwise? I didn't think so. And today's schedule isn't too grueling. That's the best part. I can fit it all on an index card.

Now that's my idea of a holiday. Decorate as little as possible, buy as few things as possible, sing songs about death, and drink 'til you forget another year has passed and you've completely pissed it away.

Joy to the world!

Photo of the Day

2009-12-18T01:19:56-06:00

Fairest of Them All ...

Santa gazing at himself in an ornament. What says Christmas better than that?

Well, aside from the mile-long list of my present suggestions. Let me know if you need a copy, if I forgot to mail you one.

And never mind that woman trying to duck out of the photo. You're not supposed to notice her. Just because she's wearing a bright red sweater. Duck, woman! Duck!

Photo of the Day

2009-12-16T08:49:37-06:00

Obsessive-Compulsive

Yes, still captivated by things wooly, and still felting away. But that's not all I've been up to.It's the end of the last semester of grad school for me. I shall be a Master of all I survey in a mere week! Oh, but don't worry. It won't change me. Much.

I finished one of two final papers yesterday evening, submitting it a day ahead of time. I'm not sure I did my best work, but I worked on it until I thought my head would EXPLODE. I decided that was enough.

And my last paper is due December 20. Then I am DONE! Officially done! Brooo hahahahahahaha!

I'm a little happy about that.

Photo of the Day

2009-12-11T07:41:45-06:00

Futile

Telling children to put their things away? Don't waste your breath.

"But it doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!"

Telling that to those who paid for their possessions is like waving that red cape in front of a bull. Only we can see color.

T.G.I.F.!

2009-12-11T07:27:18-06:00

What a week, what a week... Seven hours in the emergency room with a daughter who officially has a concussion. One mysteriously hurt knee (mine), snow from hades, and icy, treacherous roads.

What's not to love?

Thank goodness I've found wool! I'm like Madame Defarge, knitting away, only I crochet as I can't do anything but make straight lines in knitting, but I've been crocheting since I was twelve or thirteen. Which was *cough* years ago, making it second nature by now. Between the satisfaction of going at a ball of yarn, then throwing the finished products in the wash to felt them and seeing what comes out, it's one excitement after another.

Mental note: I am a nerd.

Oh, and the fun of multimedia journaling (journaling isn't a word, by the way, as far as I know)! It's an outlet, and can look as awful or beautiful as it likes and it won't matter one whit. I look forward to it, and that's the point. My doctor loves looking at it. Since I know she will, I get a little obnoxious talking about her. Not mean, no no. I adore her. But obnoxious.

In January I'm hoping to take an art class. Not sure if I mentioned that. It's down to either the "found metal" sculpture course or the "let's find our core selves" metaphysical course. The first all but guarantees I'll seriously injure myself and be carried off via ambulance, squirting blood like a fountain. The second is sort of what I'm doing in my journal, only more structured and taught by someone who knows what she's doing. The first would make for a good battle story. If I can hand my camera to the EMT before I faint, just imagine the photos!

Yes, I consider beforehand how blog-worthy endeavors are before I choose them. See above mental note.

And for the weekend? Oh dear God, I need to call Galpal! Galpal, if you're out there, I WILL MAKE CONTACT TODAY! I'm a slug, though without the slime trail. Anyway, the plan is Galpal and hubby will come out and play tomorrow. But, note to Galpal, as of right now MY DOUBLE OVEN IS BROKEN, KAPUT, NOT WORKING!!! ARRRRRGHHHH! Want to play Yahtzee, instead? Paul's on the job, trying to figure out what's wrong, but the error code is saying it's a keypad problem. The error code reads "FO," which I think is a direct message to me.

Something out there hates me, but we can find something to play even if that nasty thing doesn't work. I WILL TALK TO YOU TODAY!!

(Like how I write notes to friends here, letting the world see? I thought so.)

On Sunday I'm working, and will be hosting a program on organizing or some such. (I'm not the one giving it, in case you're alarmed the topic isn't coming to me right away. I'm just the emcee/library representative, there to make sure no one gets out of line and no fights break out).

I don't think the weather's going to warm up appreciably anytime soon. It was in the single digits this morning, so I drove my daughter to the bus stop. I like to do random nice things for her, to keep her on her toes.

Oh, and I have two final papers to work on. Disturbing how often that slips my mind. Yes, I would like to graduate, and yes, it is the end of the semester. Silly me. One is about my experience with my practicum, though not so much an account of it as what I learned in library terms. The other, a comparison paper betwixt two articles, and my own take on what I think on the topic. So, no big research papers, but still. They must be done if I want that lovely degree. And I do. Lordy, I do.

Fate willing, there will be no major disasters. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! breath ... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I hope the hospital has wi-fi.

Photos of the Day

2009-12-09T13:01:16-06:00

So, how much snow do we have thus far? Oh, about this much:

There's supposedly more expected later today, but compared to last night's storm it'll be nothing. They're talking only 1 or 2". Pah! If you live in Chicago that's less than nothing. We laugh at anything below a foot. That's just nuisance snow.

Bad news? Frigid cold and winds of up to 50 miles per hour are forecast, starting later today. Snow already on the ground will blow around, adding to the new fallen snow, making for one big, slippery mess. And I'll have children to pick up from school, work to get to and back from, and a driveway to shovel. Not a particularly happy scenario.

We've just been spoiled by the mild temperatures this season, and weren't ready to be socked with a winter storm yet. But it's a good thing the snow plows were out all night, keeping our roads clear. They weren't bad this morning, just slushy and wet. But even then, traffic moved at a snail's pace.

Just another Chicago winter. I know. But it's no less a misery, no matter how many we weather. Pun intended.

My first coherent thoughts in weeks.

2009-12-08T16:46:27-06:00

Home today, with my concussed girl and my sick son, who does NOT have H1N1, just to clarify. He doesn't have the flu at all, I feel the need to explain, because I've had to do just that with the school for the past couple of days. I'm a pro now.

In another hour or so, I'll also have my middle child home. That's when the quiet BLISS ends, and the roar of video games will fill the air.If he has no homework, that is.

Among the other things keeping me occupied of late, wool continues to lead the pack. It's getting to be an all-consuming passion. I find myself staring at people's wool sweaters (or those I speculate are wool), thinking what I could do if only they'd give them to me. It's lust of a very strange kind. I can't explain it to anyone not similarly afflicted.

And multi-media journaling. Oh, dear God! Every chance I can I sneak downstairs to my basement office to do "just one more page..." Paint under my nails and scraps of paper glued to my elbow, I reappear about an hour later, heady from the smell of glue, sobbing from separation anxiety.

It's an embarrassment of crafty riches Chez Guidarini, even if crochet hooks poke you in the back - or worse - everywhere you sit. It's like having our own little family of hedge hogs. Could be worse, though. It could be knitting needles.

Right now I'm working on a mini-purse in tie dye felt, a big tote bag in wool, and I have a couple of journals awaiting their papery insides. I also found some lovely suede I'm considering for another journal - possibly using a "re-purposed" book cover - for which I bought a tapestry needle so I can sew it without losing a finger. Did you know those existed (tapestry needles, not fingers), because I certainly never did. The things I'm learning!

But am I really not reading at ALL? Not entirely true. I'm sort of half working on two books, Cather's Death Comes For the Archbishop (for the next classics group read), and The Lost City of Z (for my nonfiction group read). Since both discussions seem so far away, next January, I'm not reading either particularly quickly. And I am still in the habit of picking up and reading whatever book comes within my line of vision, putting that down and completely forgetting I picked it up in the first place.

This is the impetus for what I've already decided is Resolution Number One, already in place for 2010. READ A MANAGEABLE NUMBER OF BOOKS, AND KEEP TRACK OF THEM. Not too much to ask of myself, and a good exercise in attention, methinks, for the bipolar sufferer. Just don't ask me to be less crafty in 2010. That would be beyond my capacity, and I very well may bite if you dare suggest it.

So that's where I've been, and what I've been doing, while I haven't been posting as regularly. Aren't you glad you asked?

Dear Mother Nature,

2009-12-04T07:58:09-06:00

Very funny. Ha. Ha.

On the right track.

2009-12-04T00:01:00-06:00

Should you become a librarian?

December 4, 2009 - 10:48am — effinglibrarian

Use this flowchart to decide whether you should become a librarian. I hope you find it helpful.

It's a Girl!

2009-12-03T00:40:42-06:00

Lola Noelle Isabelle Guidarini

Whoopsie Doodles

2009-12-01T22:51:42-06:00

Whoopsie Doodles is a technical term for "I done messed up."

I crocheted what was a lovely combination of a rose colored wool mixed with a sparkly blue. It was all even and nicey nicey. Then I felted it, and got this:

It looks vaguely like a disproportional woman wearing a bikini. Or maybe it's just me, and my incredible sense of ignorance artistry.

The only thing I can think to do with it is this (minus the bits of string hanging off, of course):

This one looks a bit like a hot dog in a sparkly bun.

Blast.

All that work! I have to turn it into something. Anything. It's just too, too cruel otherwise. And, of course, life is NEVER that.

Will let you know as soon as I figure out the fate of this poor, misshapen monster.

2009-12-01T10:45:07-06:00

From Guardian.co.uk

Ringing the changes: phone box becomes mini-library

Village that was set to lose its traditional red phone box and library service comes up with plan to save both

Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 November 2009 16.29 GMT

The inside of the converted phone box/library in Westbury-sub-Mendip. Photograph: swns.com/ SWNS

When the mobile library stopped visiting, it was a blow for the villagers of Westbury-sub-Mendip. And when they found out they could lose their beloved red phone box, there was something of an outcry.

Happily a bright spark in the Somerset village (population 800) hatched a clever plan to tackle both difficulties. Why not buy the phone box and use it to set up a mini-library?

Today, the small but perfectly formed Westbury book box was doing a brisk trade. Adults were bringing in thrillers, romances and true-crime books, leaving them on the four wooden shelves and choosing another to take home. Young book fans were hunting around in the children's section – a big red box on the floor – for Roald Dahl and Horrid Henry favourites.

Parish councillor Bob Dolby, who cleans and polishes the phone box/library with his wife, Lyn, beamed with pride. "It has really taken off," he said. "Turnover is rapid and there's a good range of books, everything from reference books to biographies and blockbusters."

The scheme was the brainchild of resident Janet Fisher, who lives opposite the phone box. She floated the idea at a village tea party in August and the concept was accepted on the spot.

So the parish council bought the box, a Giles Gilbert Scott K6 design, for £1, and Dolby screwed the four shelves into place. A local business donated a sign and a wag added a "Silence please" notice. Residents donated books to get the project going and it became an instant hit, all for an outlay of just £30.

Fisher popped across the road today to swap an Ian Rankin novel. She was hoping to pick up a Michael Connelly book – "Some of the girls said there was one here" – but it had gone. She rejected the book on the life of Fred West and plumped for another American detective novel.

Fisher's neighbour, Angela Buchanan, strolled over to see what was new. She picked up a Penelope Lively the other day. Nobody has yet been tempted by the audio book she left of Laurence Olivier reading Charles Dickens. "It's such a brilliant idea. Our nearest library is Wells, four miles away, so if you don't want to go into the town but have run out of something to read, it's great you can use this. All sorts of interesting books turn up – manuals, picture books, good literary novels."

And unlike the library in Wells, the phone box library is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day – and is lit at night. There is a regular check on it to see if some titles are not moving. These are then shipped on to a charity shop to keep the phone box collection fresh.

BT has received 770 applications for communities to "adopt a kiosk". So far 350 boxes have been handed to parish councils. Ideas for their afterlife have included a shower, art installations, even a toilet. Dolby said he was just pleased that a piece of street architecture in Westbury had been put to good use. "It's very pleasing that the phone box has been saved but is also being used to provide a service for the village."

My review in Feminist Review

2009-12-01T09:46:28-06:00

You can find my review of Masha Hamilton's 31 Hours in The Feminist Review today in case you get the urge to wander by. It's only mediumish long, so nothing too time-consuming. But, of course, if you can't get over there ... sniff ... I'll understand ... sob!

No pressure.