i dream in words

Sentimental Sunday: My heart will go on

2010-02-07T11:13:00.001+02:00

Warning: Mushy content below.

Tomorrow, 13 years ago, my daughter was born and I learnt that it is possible to fall in love with a person in a completely different way. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with her for the first two years, during which time we played, slept, ate and danced together every single day – it is a time I am very grateful for and will always hold dear.

This song was the song I danced her to sleep with when she was still a tiny little baby. It is very unusual for me to have music like this anywhere near my playlist, but 1997 was also the year Titanic was released, and it was the first movie I felt brave enough to take a baby along to go see – and the song spoke to me and that love I felt for this little creature I was now responsible for and who’s existence saved my own.

Saturday 9:41

2010-02-06T10:44:00.001+02:00

I got great sleep last night. This doesn’t happen often. But here we are, at Saturday again – where the hell did montuewedthufriday go? But then again, in two days’ time, my one and only will suddenly be 13. That is quite something, to wake up one morning and suddenly you are the parent of a teenager.

We are taking her and some friends to see Avatar 3D this evening. We’ve all seen it before, but enjoyed it so much that we all want to see it again.

On this day, 12 years ago, the husband and I signed a paper that made it official. This is not really the anniversary we celebrate – we celebrate the day we met instead – but silently, I always give this day a nod.

And I didn’t want to say anything, but I can see blue sky outside. I can only hope that the rain decided to go visit those parts of our country that are in dire need of some wetness.

Sentimental Sunday: Jethro Tull – The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles

2010-01-31T08:31:00.001+02:00

I have really been enjoying my recent trips down musical memory lane to the point where I will now, during the week, think about my next trip. This week, I was going to focus on Jethro Tull’s Stormwatch*, but while looking for a video this morning on YouTube, I came across this forgotten favourite from my childhood.

I think, by now, it is no secret that I am absolutely and utterly in love with Alice in Wonderland, and as a young girl, this interlude in The Passion Play transported me down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. Listening to it now, all these years later, I still feel like I need to follow a rabbit.

Lyrics:

Owl loved to rest quietly whilst no one was watching. Sitting on a fence one day, he was surprised when suddenly a kangaroo ran close by. Now this may not seem strange, but when owl overheard kangaroo whisper to no one in particular,
``The hare has lost his spectacles" Well, he began to wonder.
Presently, the moon appeared from behind a cloud and there, lying on the grass was hare. in the stream that flowed by the grass -- a newt. And sitting astride a twig of a bush -- a bee.
Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with excitement, for without his spectacles he was completely helpless. Where were his spectacles? Could someone have stolen them? Had he mislaid them? What was he to do?
Bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began:
``You probably ate them thinking they were a carrot".
``No! interrupted owl, who was wise. ``i have good eye-sight, insight, and foresight. How could an intelligent hare make such a silly mistake?
But all this time, owl had been sitting on the fence, Scowling!
Kangaroo were hopping mad at this sort of talk. She thought herself far superior in intelligence to the others. She was their leader; their guru. She had the answer:
``Hare, you must go in search of the Optician".
But then she realized that hare was completely helpless without his spectacles. and so, kangaroo loudly proclaimed,
``I cant send hare in search of anything!
``You can guru, you can!" shouted Newt. ``You can send him with owl".
But owl had gone to sleep. Newt knew too much to be stopped by so small a problem -- ``You can take him in your pouch". But alas, Hare as much too big to fit into Kangaroos pouch.
All this time, it had been quite plain to hare that the others knew nothing about spectacles. As for all their tempting ideas, well Hare didn't care. The lost spectacles were his own affair. And after all, Hare did have a spare a-pair.
A-pair.

* I always remember Stormwatch, not for the music but for the cover. As a 3 or 4 year old, there was nothing that scared me as much as this cover:

I remember always running past, and checking if the lightning was still flashing in the visible eye. Just to make sure.

Kief bru

2010-01-30T18:04:00.001+02:00

Strangely addictive

Right now…

2010-01-30T10:47:00.001+02:00

Stolen from Wenchy :)

Outside my window is another grey and rainy day, and pigeons waiting for me to open the back door, so they can savage the cats' food.

I am thinking at the speed of light I am thankful for leading such a blessed life right now.

I am wearing PJs.

I am remembering not much right now - the brain keeps filling up with new stuff.

I am going for breakfast soon.

I am currently reading too many books at once.

I am hoping I am not going mad again

On my mind a million things and more.

Noticing that I may be a little manic

From the kitchen the sound of the kettle boiling - the husband just woke up.

Around the house the signs of the late night I slept through last night

One of my favourite things is sleepy early morning cuddles.

Saturday 9:34

2010-01-30T10:08:00.001+02:00

[picture source unknown – received via email]

The family is still sleeping. They all had a late night last night, I passed out around midnight. But it is ok, because, believe it or not, it is still grey and rainy.

My daughter received a personalised invitation to apply at a rather prestigious school yesterday. It is not a school we would consider – it is a Catholic school – but I still think it is a great honour and recognition of her general awesomeness.

awe·some (ô'səm)
adj.

Inspiring awe: an awesome thunderstorm.

Expressing awe: stood in awesome silence before the ancient ruins.

Also:

awesome

exclam.
Great!; Excellent! (Usually Awesome! Standard English, but used often in slang.) : You own that gorgeous hog? Awesome!

mod.
impressive. : That thing is so awesome!

It is all right to be awesome every now and again, but you are not allowed to tell others that you are, in deed, awesome. It is all right for them to tell you so though.

I often feel like I am living in a completely different world to everyone else. Quite possibly because I live in the one in my head, and it is a little too small to fit everyone else in.

And seriously, this rain stuff has overstayed its welcome. There are other places that needs it, my precious.

RIP J. D. Salinger

2010-01-29T06:21:00.001+02:00

Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion.

~ J. D. Salinger

1 January 1919 - 27 January 2010

Photo challenge: Yellow

2010-01-24T13:11:00.001+02:00

Laura over at Female2Female is running photo challenge, as follows:

All you need to do is post a picture with the colour yellow in it. It doesn’t have to be a picture taken today – can be any picture you have.

At first I thought I have nothing yellow anywhere around me. And then I realised I had yellow flowers and yellow pots in the garden and my library is yellow too. So I got snapping, and took these:

But my favourite of them all, and the one I put forward for this challenge, is this one:

The dude (our pet tortoise) making his way up to the new squash blossom. He simply adores them, and every single flower this plant has made so far has been eaten. I will have to continue buying squash for now, but he eats like royalty, so all is good in the world.

Sentimental Sunday: The Sex Pistols – My Way

2010-01-24T12:16:00.001+02:00

After yesterday’s little find, the Pistols have been on my mind continuously. I was never really a big punk, but I did dabble a little – mostly musically, in the mid to late 80s. As a very young teen, a week-end treat was visiting the old flea market in Newtown, Johannesburg, and shyly checking out the punks hanging out on the wall next to the Market Theatre, begging for money and generally giving attitude to all spectators.

[pictures nicked from the I remember Club Alcatraz group on Facebook.]

Sid Vicious singing My Way, for me, was the embodiment of punk back in those days, and everything I believed in: making your own choices, living life your own way. Even though the romanticism of the Gothic subculture - especially its music - appealed more to me in the end, the freedom of the punk ethos always appealed to my inner rebel, and still does to this day.

God save the Pistols?

2010-01-23T09:58:00.001+02:00

First Preview: Sex Pistols Spring 2010 Collection

[source]

Oh my wordy word. Whatever next?

First, Johnny Rotten gets his own TV show, and now this.

Does this mean a revival of all the old bands in a trendy presentable package? Are we going to see Robert Smith hair gel, or Siouxsie’s very own MAC range? Morrissey sandals? Cramps napkins? The possibilities are endless.

I am not quite sure what to make of this.

7:52 Friday morning

2010-01-22T08:03:00.001+02:00

I took today as a work-from-home day. I love WFH days, because I always get so much done.

I am really, really annoyed by people who ‘forget’ to use their indicators. Is it just me, or are big German sedans not kitted with those tiny little lights that tell people when you turn?

Last night, my daughter and I had a chat about the future, and she said she wants to be a stay-at-home Mom and writer. I said I wish I could do that. She asked why I couldn’t. I made a money excuse. I am still not sure if it is just about the money.

My daughter is made of awesome.

I have, this week, done a full 30 minutes of flight sim training. It is because I downloaded the demo, which has a time limit. Next week, after payday, I will purchase the full version and hopefully rake up more hours.

And seriously, I need a refund voucher for Summer. It is almost the end of January, and we have had a total of 4 warm days since here since we returned from the coast.

Random song for this morning: 672 by The Dresden Dolls.

Pricey guy

2010-01-20T06:21:00.001+02:00

Seems like all I do these days is post vids, here is another :)

The Knight Lights – Pricey guy from their first gig.

Wallpapers: Landscapes

2010-01-17T16:10:00.001+02:00

I have made a number of widescreen wallpapers from the pictures I took at the coast over the past December and shared them on Picasa.

View all

Get your own

Click on the picture to view the album. These pictures are free for personal use, but are not to be included in any collection or redistributed without my permission.

Sentimental Sunday: The Cure – Let’s go to bed

2010-01-17T14:30:00.001+02:00

I feel a little sentimental today. Not sure if it is because I have been listening to a lot of The Cure, Siouxsie and The Smiths again. Probably.

And then, there is this song:

I started listening to The Cure when I was 13. The first song I heard was from the Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me album – don’t ask me which one, because that was a really, really long time ago – but for me, it was love. When I finally heard this song, I knew this was the band for me. Because, despite what my friends thought, this song is not about sex, but about insomnia. For me, as a young insomniac, at least it was and I am sure I also read an interview with Robert Smith declaring the same, which was enough for me.

The Cure – Let’s go to bed

Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo

Let me take your hand
I'm shaking like milk
Turning
Turning blue

All over the windows and the floors
Fires outside in the sky
Look as perfect as cats
The two of us
Together again
But it's just the same
A stupid game

But I don't care if you don't
And I don't feel if you don't
And I don't want it if you don't
And I won't say it
If you won't say it first

You think you're tired now
But wait until three
Laughing at the Christmas lights
You remember from December

All of this then back again
Another girl
Another name
Stay alive but stay the same
It's just the same
A stupid game

But I don't care if you don't
And I don't feel if you don't
And I don't want it if you don't
And I won't say it
If you won't say it first
You can't even see now

So you ask me the way
You wonder if it's real
Because it couldn't be rain
Through the right doorway

And into the white room
It used to be the dust that would lay here
When I came here alone
Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo
Let's go to bed

Now, all these years later, it still feels more like a song about insomnia than about sex, and anyone who has ever struggled to sleep for extended periods of time may identify with the ‘you think you’re tired now but wait until three’ like, or the narcotic feeling that lack of sleep brings.

A thing of beauty: Abney Park – The Dark and Twisty Road

2010-01-13T08:31:00.001+02:00

I keep expecting to hear a Richard Strauss composition…

2010-01-07T14:39:00.001+02:00

Can you believe that it is the year 2010 already. Just say it. Twenty Ten. Two thousand and ten. It still sounds like it should be a Sci-fi movie, rather than our current date.

2009 was an interesting year for me. We participated involuntarily in the wealth redistribution program in South Africa, and I stopped living. I poured myself into work, and holed up in bed for the rest of the time. I didn’t read, I didn’t write. Instead, I consumed vast amounts of chocolate and DVDs. And I stuck my head in the sand like the good ostrich I am.

While we were on our recent holiday (the first in 9 years!) we – my husband and I – realised with shock that we had, in fact, stopped living. And stopped dreaming. Oh, we made plans, but we didn’t dream.

I’ve had a couple of dreams. A couple of things I wanted to achieve for my own personal happiness. Dreams that have been fluttering in my heart since I was a very young girl.

The first of those is to write. To be a writer. To have others read my stories.

This year, being the completely wild sci-fi year that it is, is the year where I will return seriously to my writing. I am not setting insane goals, or anything like that. All I want to is to complete a novel in the near future. One little novel. And by complete I mean finished and ready for submission.

The other dream is to fly. Not grow my own wings, but as close as I can get to it. So this year I will finally start working towards my pilots license. I have collected the costs and as much information as I could find in a day and I have set a goal. I would like to be able to fly myself and my family to the coast by the end of 2011.

I am not going to try and promise myself that I will quit smoking, get a bikini-body by June or anything silly like that. If these things happen naturally, then friggen awesome. But those, dear reader(s), are my dreams for the new ~~year~~ decade.

Holiday 2009 reading list

2010-01-06T21:37:00.001+02:00

I read a couple of really great books over the past month while I was on holiday.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I’ve read the books individually over the past almost twenty years, and I have lost my copies of all but Mostly Harmless, so at the beginning of December, I picked up this complete volume containing all five books in the trilogy, as well as the short-story Young Zaphod plays it safe and foreword by Neil Gaiman. Fantastic read, as always.

Cosmic

I can’t remember when last I’ve had this much fun reading a book. Possibly the first Percy Jackson, because it was so different to anything I had read up until that point. Cosmic has that same feeling, a lot of British dry wit and literally rockets of fun. I would highly recommend this book for any 9 to 14 year old of both genders. The young at heart may also enjoy this highly enjoyable young adventure.

When the Emperor Was Divine

Beautifully written story about the American Japanese and their treatment by the American government during the Second World War. Clean, crisp writing that reminded me so of Murakami, but with the natural flow that translations sometimes stutter over. And the story haunts for days afterwards.

In the Forests of the Night

A very quick read, but unfortunately quite forgetable. A vampire tale that flips between the present and flashbacks, the main character is not incredibly likable and the story didn’t do anything to drag me in. If I had another book with me, I probably would not have finished this one.

My daughter, on the other hand, loved the book and will most definitely read more of Ms Atwater-Rhodes’s books in the near future.

I also started reading Nathan Fox: Traitor's Gold, Diary of a Mad Housewife: A Novel and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters in the past couple of days. I should post a review of each (except for Diary, that I left behind) very soon.

Avatar

2010-01-06T20:44:00.001+02:00

I had the absolute pleasure of watching Avatar in 3D over the past week-end and was absolutely blown away. I have to admit that it was the first time I watched a 3D movie at the cinema, so that probably contributed to my awe but I cannot stop thinking about this film.

I loved the story, the score was hauntingly beautiful and the characters were fantastic. But the visuals. The visuals left me speechless. If you haven’t seen it yet and love all things fantasy/sci-fi, do yourself a favour and go to the cinemas – it is well worth the extra cost on the ticket.

2009 in review - Music

2009-12-31T16:56:00.001+02:00

I cannot live without music. I am always listening to something or another. I tend to become a little obsessive about certain songs/bands and will listen to them over and over, especially if they are new discoveries and speak to my soul.

According to Last.fm, these are the bands I listened to most over the past 12 months:

Kaizers Orchestra
Abney Park
The Parlotones
Bauhaus
Einsturzende Neubauten
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
The Killers
The Breeders
Deine Lakaien
DeVotchKa
Muse
Johnny Hollow
Diary of Dreams
Gogol Bordello
HIM

Favourite new finds:

Abney Park
Johnny Hollow
Gogol Bordello
DeVotchKa
Balkan Beats

According to Last.fm, my top tracks for the past year are as follows:

Abney Park – Airship Pirate
Kaizers Orchestra – Bastard Sonn
Johnny Hollow – This Hollow World
Kaizers Orchestra – Ond Sirkel
The Parlotones – Perfect Place
Kaizers Orchestra – Moment
DeVotchKa – Basso Profundo
DeVotchKa – Undone
Kaizers Orchestra – Enden av November
Kaizers Orchestra – Maskineri
Kaizers Orchestra – Apokalyps Meg
Abney Park – Thornes and Brambles
The Killers – Andy You’re A Star
Kaizers Orchestra – Den Andre Er Meg
Abney Park – White Wedding

For me, the best musical moment of this past year was seeing The Killers live in concert. It has been a while since I’ve seen an international act, and the Killers put on a spectacular show.

I have also reconnected with my roots this year, both by rediscovering music I have always loved and by discovering new genres that complement the music of my soul. I suppose adding the Steampunk genre was a natural flow out of my love for old-school Goth, while the addition of Gypsy Punk has been a pleasant surprise albeit natural, considering my love for other languages and the Balkan sound. I look forward to discovering even more music in 2010.

So, what music moved you in 2009?

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-13T09:07:00.001+02:00

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.
May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.
May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
~Irish Blessing

I will be off-line for the remainder of the year as I visit the coast with my family.

May you all have a beautiful holiday period and may 2010 bring you many realised dreams and fulfilled wishes.

The one where she admits defeat

2009-12-08T09:58:00.001+02:00

2009 will be known as the year that defeated me on so many fronts. Work is not one of those, but is a great contributor to the overall loss of the battle.

The biggest loss for me this year was my writing. I did not complete my NaNo novel this year. I didn’t even make it past 11k words, and it was not due to lack of story at all. It was actually due to lack of time and energy.

My daughter and I have declared June 2010 our personal NaNo month, as we both want to finish our NaNo novels, but can’t see time before then to actually get to it.

I am going on a long-overdue holiday at the coast soon and will be offline for the remainder of the year. I am going to use the time away to relax, switch off and empty out the buckets, so that I can tackle 2010 and everything I have planned for it.

Oh my word

2009-11-21T17:50:00.001+02:00

Not sure where else to put this, but I need to get this out of my system.

I posted this this evening on the Hellopeter.com website.

Ok, so, Lancet must employ the most incompetent accounts department in the history of incompetent accounts departments. For the past three years, I have had to go for regular blood tests. Initially, the doctor would complete the form, take the blood, send it off and then Lancet would send me a bill for the test. Sometimes, the bill would only arrive four months later, but as soon as it arrived, I would pay the bill and send through the proof of payment to the email address supplied on the invoice. Without fail, however, there would be an issue that would take weeks to resolve. We then changed it that I would pay directly at the lab, to try and avoid these issues. Earlier this year I again went for my regular blood test, directly at one of the labs, and paid the amount right there and then and got my receipt. You will not believe it, I received a bill for it last month, 6 months after I had the test. Again, I sent through the proof of payment and received acknowledgement via email that it was received. Yet, somehow, yesterday, I received a letter notifying that I have been handed over (again) for this same invoice. The one I paid. In cash. At your offices. Seriously? Seriously!

I put it up on Hellopeter, simply because I have reached the end of my tether with this company. Which is also why I am putting it here. Because I am tired of fighting. And every one I know feels the same way. About both the fighting and Lancet.

The biggest problem with the situation is that Lancet is just about a monopoly – maybe not all over, but certainly in the area I live in. And part of controlling my thyroid condition is to have regular blood tests. I could try and avoid the tests and go on gut feel, but the last time I tried that, I crashed and burned.

I have a problem with the medical profession in general, as it seems these days it is all about the benjamins and not about the person, but Lancet just takes the cake. And I am tired of fighting.

Have I mentioned that I am tired of fighting?

On the up side, these experiences make for good muse-fodder. I love writing fight scenes after something like this happens :)

Books books books

2009-11-08T11:29:00.001+02:00

It has been a while since I have done one of these and when I saw that both Gina and Sally (two recent additions to my ever growing blog reading list) have both done it, I figured I would play sheep.

I have marked the ones I have read and liked in lime, the ones I have read (or started reading) and disliked in red and the ones I am planning on reading soon in yellow (bright enough for you?)

THE BORDERS 100 FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIMES

1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird
3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings
4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga
6. JK Rowling – Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
7. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
9. George Orwell – 1984
10. Raymond E. Feist – Magician
11. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns
12. Paullina Simons – Bronze Horsemen
13. Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram
14. Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
15. Bryce Courtenay – Power of One
16. Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
17. Dan Brown – Angels & Demons
18. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
19. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
20. Tim Winton – Cloud Street
21. Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
22. Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
23. Arthur Golden – Memoirs of Geisha
24. LM Montgomery – Anne Of Green Gables
25. Joseph Heller – Catch-22
26. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love (I gave up on this one, but may try again some time in the future)
27. Niv Mass Market Bible With Bible Guide – International Bible Society Staff and International Bible Society
28. JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit
29. Yann Martel – Life of Pi
30. AB Facey – Fortunate Life
31. Douglas Adams – The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
32. Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
33. Diana Gabaldon – Cross Stich
34. Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
35. David Pelzar – A Child Called It
36. Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer
37. John Marsden – Tomorrow, When The War Began
38. Frank McCourt – Angela’s Ashes
39. Frank Herbert – Dune
40. JD Salinger – A Catcher In The Rye
41. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
42. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years Of Solitude
43. Bryce Courtenay – April Fool’s Day
44. Ken Follet – Pillars Of The Earth
45. Patrick Suskind – Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
46. Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
47. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow Of The Wind
48. Stephen Hawking – A Brief History Of Time
49. Christopher Paolini – Eragon
50. Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
51. Mitch Albom – Tuesdays With Morrie
52. Jane Austen – Persuasion
53. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
54. Ian McEwan – Atonement
55. Leo Tolstory – Anna Karenina
56. George Orwell – Animal Farm
57. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
58. Antoine de Saint Exupéry – The Little Prince
59. Roald Dahl – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
60. CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
61. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love In The Time Of Cholera
62. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything
63. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Crime And Punishment
64. Anthony Bourke – Lion Called Christian
65. Arundhati Roy – The God Of Small Things
66. Paullina Simons – Tully
67. John Grisham – A Time To Kill
68. John Grogan – Marley & Me
69. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy
70. Alexandre Dumas – Count Of Monte Cristo
71. Neil Gaiman – American Gods
72. Cormac McCarthy – The Road
73. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
74. Brendan Shanahan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful: Between Chaos And Madness In A Strange Land
75. Tim Winton – Breath
76. Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
77. Graeme Base – Animalia
78. Donna Tartt – The Secret History
79. Mario Puzo – The Godfather
80. Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire
81. Steig Larrson – The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo
82. Stephen King – Stand
83. Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary
84. Eckhart Tolle – New Earth
85. Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
86. Jung Chang – Wild Swans
87. Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
88. Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
89. David Eddings – Belgariad Vol. 1: Pawn Of Prophecy; Queen Of Sorcery; Magician’s Gambit
90. Louis De Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
91. Melina Marchetta – Looking For Alibrandi
92. Celia Ahern – PS I Love You
93. John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany
94. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
95. John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy Of Dunces
96. Terry Pratchett – Good Omens
97. Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
98. Joanne Harris – Chocolat
99. William Goldman – Princess Bride
100. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations

Red	5
Green	30
Total read	35 (yikes – need to work on that)

EXCLUSIVE BOOKS 101 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE

1.The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
2.The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
3. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
4. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
5. The Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
6. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
7. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
8. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
9. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
10. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
11. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
12. Spud – John van de Ruit
13. The Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
14. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
15. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
16. Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
17. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
18. Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
19. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
20. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
21. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22. Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee
23. My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
24. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
25. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
26. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
27. Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
28. Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
29. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
30. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
31. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
32. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – Mark Haddon
33. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
34. Atonement – Ian McEwan
35. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
36. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
37. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
38. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
39. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
40. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
41. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
42. I Know This Much is True – Wally Lamb
43. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
44. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
45. War And Peace – Leo Tolstoy
46. Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean M. Auel
47. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
48. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
49. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
50. Possession – A. S. Byatt
51. Perfume – Patrick Suskind
52. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
53. Chocolat – Joanne Harris
54. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
55. Q & A – Vikas Swarup
56. Dune – Frank Herbert
57. Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
58. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
59. River God – Wilbur Smith
60. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
61. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
62. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
63. Mort – Terry Pratchett
64. Crime and Punishment – Feodor Dostoyevsky
65. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
66. East of Eden – John Steinbeck
67. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
68. The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
69. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
70. The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy
71. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
72. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
73. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
74. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
75. Animal Farm – George Orwell
76. The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
77. Watership Down – Richard Adams
78. Magician – Raymond E Feist
79. Middlemarch – George Eliot
80. The Day of the Jackal – Frederick Forsyth
81. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
82. The Magus – John Fowles
83.The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Agaat – Marlene van Niekerk
85. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
86. The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
87. The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
88. The Beach House – James Patterson
89. Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
90. Kringe in ‘n Bos – Dalene Matthee
91. The World according to Garp – John Irving
92. Northen Lights – Phillip Pullman
93. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
94. Shades – Marguerite Poland
95. Kane and Abel – Jeffrey Archer
96. Fiela se kind – Dalene Matthee
97. Story of an African Farm – Olive Schreiner
98. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
99. The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton
100. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
101. Winnie-the-Pooh – A.A. Milne

Red	3
Green	40
Total:	43

That’s a bit better.

I am thinking that I should possibly give Great Expectations another chance, since I can’t even remember why I didn’t like it. And, wow, so many books still to read.

The week that was

2009-11-07T09:09:00.001+02:00

We attended a Halloween party with a difference. Small cosy venue and a bunch of my favourite beats. Oh, and this view of Jozi:

We’ve seen a lot of this (and the wet stuff it produces):

Felt like this quite a bit this week:

(Chris, our wonderful NaNoWriMo ML)

And, finally, the blue skies returned on Thursday:

So glorious, it deserves another look.

And this is the view from the office balcony on Friday:

NaNoWriMo 2009 - Day 3

2009-11-03T17:59:00.001+02:00

Oh, the joy, the pain, the bleeding has begun. This year, I am writing something completely new. My husband and I were having a chat and this idea popped into my head. We discussed it a little more, and the idea just grew from there. And it is fun. And it is funny. In my head it is, at least. And that is the most important place :)

So, herewith a snippet of the mess that is currently known as Mr Universe:

“Well, we all miss home,” Laura tried to be strong, “But we are here now, and we may as well make the best of it. At least, as far as I know, we are still in our galaxy, so if you guys flake out in this round, we can all go home quickly.”

“Flake out!” Laurence exclaimed. “Do you really think we don’t stand a chance? We are the most beautiful people on our planet!”

Laura shook her head. “No, no, no, that’s not what I meant.” She had vastly underestimated the vanity of beautiful people and didn’t think that they would even want to participate in this strange event.

“Vat did you mean then?” the air got a little colder and Svetlana seemed much taller.

Laura took a deep breath, blinked just long enough to pull herself together and said “Look, this is a little... well, odd, don’t you think? And sudden. I just need time to, well, adjust. And I thought you may too.”

And all I can add is that I cannot wait to write the swimsuit section of this strange event.

Current word count: 4283 (9% complete)

This means I am just about 700 words short of where I should be today, but I knew I wouldn’t get much writing done during the week, as I can catch up on week-ends.

Personal target word count for the week: 15k

This should give me a small buffer for next week again.