Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in janet_t_okeefe's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
2:52 pm	I'm going to be on JEOPARDY!!!! They called me about an hour ago and gave me a date for the taping. I will be taping on November 28th. I won't be able to tell anyone how I did until after it airs, and I won't know that date until after I come back from LA. I am SO excited! Now I have to start reading almanacs obsessively. The only sad part is that Jeopardy airs against Coronation Street so I am going to have to miss my weekday Corrie fix while I'm in training. Current Mood: jubilant (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
11:41 am	The Eternal Struggle It seems that my house and my car are in a battle for my wallet. Last year when my engine died I was planning to spend my vacation insulating my attic. Instead I spent the week at my Mother's waiting for the car repairs and had no money left to buy insulation. I am starting another vacation tomorrow and was planning to paint my living room. Four weeks ago my check engine light started coming on every day, but only either two minutes before I was due at work or at night after the repair shops had closed. Two weeks ago I finally got it to a repair shop while the light was on, which resulted in $140 of repairs. I had to dip into my overdraft to cover it. Then on Tuesday when I left work I had a flat tire. After I jacked it up and took off the bolts, I couldn't get the damn wheel off. I left it at a friend's house for the night, she lives only two blocks from work, and her neighbor sprayed it with WD-40 and let it sit. The next day I tried again and it still wouldn't budge so I had to call AAA. Fortunately I had my sister with me as she has AAA and I don't, she told them she was stranded and it was free. I had planned to buy new tires before the last two car repairs took all my money, but was trying to put it off until next paycheck. (There was new battery in September, $80 for the battery and $40 for the two truck to jump start it when it died at a gas station halfway home from my sister's cottage on a holiday.) Naturally they told me the tire couldn't be repaired. So, two new tires and $170 and I'm back on the road. Once again I am going to have to rely on my overdraft to cover it. I have come to the conclusion that every time I plan to make voluntary improvements to my house, my car gets wind of it, gets jealous and decides to spend all my money. Either that or it just takes a sick pleasure in ruining my vacation plans. Of course, if I wanted to think positively I would say that the car is trying to help me by forcing me to really relax on my vacations instead of working hard around the house. Somehow, I'm not feeling that charitable toward my car today. Current Mood: stressed (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007
12:22 pm	I got my Mommy! As I write this my Mom is either watching a truck being loaded with all her worldly possessions, or driving from her former home in suburban Detroit to her new condo in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint just to the south of here. After seven years of living in Flint I finally got my Mommy to move closer and I am thrilled to bits. Of course, getting one of my sisters to move here five years ago helped immeasurably. I say whatever you've got to do to get your Mommy is worth it. At least I didn't have to get a brother up here. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go gloat to the lesser seven siblings about how I got their mommy and they didn't. Hee! Current Mood: giddy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
5:00 pm	Books I've Read volume 4 I was trying to hold off on this until after my next book talk, but I am afraid I will forget too many titles by then. This group had a very slow start and for a while looked like a boring group, then everything sped up a couple weeks ago. It has turned out to be a diverse lot. Living in Amida's Universal Vow I started to read this collection of essays in Shin Buddhism in late June, but found it very hard going. It wasn't nearly as engaging as Tariki was. I wound up putting it down partway and moving on to other things. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (as if you didn't know) I wasn't one of those people who ran out the first day to get this, but when my sister finished her copy I picked it up. I found myself incredibly annoyed with how stupid Harry was being for most of the time and quite incredulous that I was expected to believe that he won out in the end because of his intelligence. Couldn't quite suspend that much disbelief. Everyone I have asked agrees that the best line was, "Not my daughter, you bitch!" I am left with two questions: 1) Do Hogwarts professors have to make a vow of celibacy or something? Honestly, couldn't one of them have a spouse? 2) Why doesn't Ginny get to name any of her kids after her family? She had to go through labour, after all. Portugese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith My sister-in-law gave me this and two other books in the series. I suspect it was because there is a hedgehog on the cover, which is a good enough reason to me. This was a short, funny book about an almost completely unlikable person. The first half of the book demonstrated what a pompous jerk he was and the second half gave the reader the chance to enjoy his suffering. Ah, shadenfreude at it's best. I recommend it. Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World's Most Popular Flavor and Fragrance by Patricia Rain This was the start of my book talk books. I decided to do food biographies/histories. At first I was going to include books on Cod and Salt, but then I decided that if I chose well I could make a treat for the book talk that included all the ingredients in the books. Sadly, despite the fact that I read it so I could talk to people about this, I have very little to say about this book. It was interesting and actually answered some questions I had about whether I could grow my own vanilla in a greenhouse. It also had a few recipes, but not many. It covers a lot of historical and geographical ground and I did find it an interesting read. Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light by Mort Rosenbaum This was a difficult book to read. Not because it was boring or dry, it wasn't. No, it was difficult because every time I sat down to read it I wanted to have some chocolate to eat and kept getting distracted by my cravings. I was also tempted to run out and buy chocolates from the expensive, artisan chocolatiers he was profiling. I have learned that I am nothing like a chocolate snob, and that becoming a chocolate snob is bloody expensive. Certainly read this book, but make sure you have chocolate handy or your will go running to the shops for it. Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming The Onion AV Club Blog has an interesting feature called the Big Box of Paperbacks Book Club or words to that effect. One of their writers bought a sealed box of paperbacks at a bookstore and is reading them all. They are mostly pulp and scifi, many too obscure to be in my library. I didn't take part at first, but after a few I decided to read the ones that were in my library or I could get from interlibrary loan in time. This was the first on I read and I actually read it at the same time as the book on chocolate. So, what did I think of Live and Let Die? It was better than I expected. The descriptions were rich and it was much less appallingly racist than I had been led to expect. I was shocked, however, to learn that James Bond was a complete pussy. Twice in the book he told Solitaire that he couldn't "make love with one hand." I mean, come on, this is James fucking Bond and he can't think of a position he can manage with a broken pinky on his non-dominant hand. What a pussy! He's certainly not the man the movies have taught me to lust after if he can't manage that. Apples by Peter Wynne Another entry in the book talk. This was a bit boring compared to the other two. Fortunately I only had to read half of it because it was half narrative and half recipes. It was heavy on how to grow, prune and harvest apple trees. Actually, I learned how to prune properly which helped me with my elm last weekend. One thing I found interesting was how dated it was. It was written in the Seventies and talked about Delicious apples being the most popular as well as profiling several of the most popular variety. Nowhere did it mention Gala apples which were unheard of then but are now the most popular apple in the U.S. Also the tone was very positive when it talked about modern, industrial farming techniques where the vanilla and chocolate books had been very scathing, and blamed those techniques for many problems with the crops. The next two books were both read while I was reading the Apples book. I took to reading the book for the book talk while I was at work and the other books at home or on my lunch hour. Food of the Gods by H. G. Wells Another for the Big Box of Paperbacks Book Club. I can't believe I actually read a book with giant rats without freaking out, but I did. I hadn't read any H. G. Wells before and found his tone more humorous and amusing than I expected. I could clearly see how he was an influence on Robert Rankin. I thought the portrayal of the quintessentially absent-minded professors was great. The fact that this brilliant scientist could hire an extremely messy couple, entrust them with his precious formula and assume it wouldn't get where it wasn't supposed to be was portrayed brilliantly by simply setting out the facts and leaving the reader's omnipotence to make them shake their heads and wait for the other shoe to drop. I quite liked this and plan to read more Wells as time allows. Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis I was hotly anticipating Warren Ellis' first novel, which I requested from the library months before it arrived. It was an extremely quick read. I started it on my lunch on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend and finished it on Saturday night or Sunday morning, in between card games and visiting with my family. It was funny, fast-paced and scathing. Ellis has an extremely strong and consistent authorial voice so if you like his stuff you'll enjoy it. However, it also had the drawback of devolving into anarchist fantasy that I have noticed in other Ellis titles, especially Transmetropolitan. Also he just loves to portray politicians as completely, irredeemably messed up or evil - this one is a functioning heroin addict White House Chief of Staff who loves to talk at length about shooting up in hotel rooms and making the staff clean up after them. The truth is that even the politicians I hate genuinely believe that they are doing right, which is much scarier than Ellis' charicatured fiction. I am left ambivalent about the book. It had all the elements of Ellis' writing that I love and all the elements that I don't like. Here in Cold Hell by Tanith Lee If I was hotly anticipating Crooked Little Vein my anticipation for Here in Cold Hell was a raging inferno. This is the second book of the Lionwolf trilogy. I read the fist book, Cast a Bright Shadow when I was in England and, I must confess, blew off my one day to sightsee in London because I couldn't put it down. I had the chance to buy Here in Cold Hell at the same time but didn't because I wanted to keep my luggage light and thought I would find it again. I didn't and I have been wanting to read it, but not buying it because the shipping was expensive, ever since. Finally, through the intervention of the Gods in the form of a check for $75 that turned up literally hours after I had wimped out of placing an order with Amazon UK for exactly that amount, I have not only this book but the third book in the trilogy as well. See, sometimes if you procrastinate long enough the next book in the series will be published. Because the Gods hate me as much as they love me, this book order arrived just as I had to start reading for the book talk so I had to let it sit. I only took it out because it was the holiday long weekend and I decided that I deserved to read fiction on my mini-vacation to the cottage. Here in Cold Hell was not quite as captivating as its predecessor, but almost as much. I just can't help being completely drawn into the worlds that Tanith Lee creates. Unfortunately, in this book at least, there aren't any characters that I really cared about. There were a couple in the first book, but their appearances in this one were brief. Happily it seems clear that they will be around more in the third book. There is no way this book could be anything but the middle of a trilogy and as such nothing big happens. I see why people criticize that, but I don't agree. Why should a book in a series be expected to stand alone? It serves the purpose it was designed to serve and that's fine with me. Shotgun by Ed McBain Another book club book, this was an amazingly fast read. I stayed up late on Monday night finishing Here in Cold Hell and did the same on Tuesday night with Shotgun. Part of a series set in the 87th Precinct of the fictional town of Isola, it's a police procedural novel. It centers around two cops trying to solve the shooting of a husband and wife in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. It was written in 1969 and without being familiar with the genre, it seems to me that the Law and Order and CSI franchises owe a lot to these books. If you can find this at your local library, check it out but you don't need to go out of your way for it. Wow, from a slow start and a couple of points when I wasn't reading much of anything at all, these titles really added up. I guess I haven't turned into a non-book-reading slug after all. Current Mood: good (Comment on this)
Friday, August 17th, 2007
9:16 am	Happy, happy, HAPPY GIRL! I am SO happy right now. I just got an e-mail from BBC America announcing that "Count Dracula" the 1979 BBC production starring Louis Jourdan is being released on DVD on September 25th. That is the production that started my whole vampire fetish and 13-years as a vampirologist. To me, Louis Jourdan will always be THE Dracula, in part because he got to say many of Stoker's best lines that got cut from the other versions. This production has never been available before on video in any format and all I have is a poor copy taped off PBS with the best bits cut out. (I learned years after seeing it that my favourite scene was cut from the U.S. release due to complaints and I only saw it at all because I watched it first on Canadian television.) Words cannot express how happy I am right now. I literally jumped out of my chair and started bouncing around the room screaming when I read it. Good thing I'm in back doing telephone reference and not on a public desk. I already pre-ordered it from my local Borders, along with the DVD of Jekyll, as this new version of Hyde is my current, fictional, completely evil, non-human object of lust. Yes, yes, I know I have a type. I can't help it. The BBC just knows how to make villains yummy. Current Mood: ecstatic (Comment on this)
Friday, August 10th, 2007
10:01 am	Jeopardy update Jeopardy auditions were on Monday, but to tell the whole story I need to go back to Saturday. My sister Maureen turned 50 last week and my mother decided to have a surprise party for her on Saturday. I knew that driving to Detroit the day before my trip would be a pain, but I agreed to do it. I knew that my sister would want one of my peach cobblers for her birthday, so I also promised to make one. So on Saturday morning I packed for the trip, made the cobbler and hit the road at about noon. The cobbler came out great, the party went fine and I was able to slip out at about 8:00 so I could get a good night's sleep. When I got home from the party I discovered that my air conditioning didn't seem to be working properly. Despite the fact that it had been set to 76° since 5:30 and it was now 10:00, the house was still 82°. I also noticed that I didn't feel any air coming out when I stood in front of the vents. I had known for some time that the blower on my furnace/air conditioner might die at some time so I supposed this was it. As it was Saturday night and I was leaving the next day, I did not have time to worry about it and just set the system not to cool while I was out of town. The only train to Chicago from Flint leaves at 6:30am, an ungodly hour by any definition. I woke up at about 5:00am and made it to the station by 6:00. Much to my delight, the train was delayed by an hour. Then it was so full that I had to sit next to a stranger, which wasn't too bad as he was nice and not going all the way to Chicago, which meant I had more room for about half the trip. Unfortunately for everyone, someone had declared it "take your screaming toddler to Chicago" day without warning the rest of us. In front of my were three adults with two eight-month-olds and a two-year-old. Behind me was a father with a girl in her twos who was mostly good, but did wake me from a nap by crying for her mommy. Further back in the cabin were several more. Truly, it was a hellish trip, but I was thanking the Gods that I have a loud-ass musician for a best friend because I always carry earplugs in my purse. I find that's a lot easier than trying to remember where I put them before a show. It was still loud and annoying with the earplugs, but much better than it could have been. We made it to Chicago at about 12:30 and I took a cab to my hotel. They weren't ready for check-in but I was able to store my bags. I wandered off to find some lunch and, I hoped, a hairdresser because I really needed a haircut. I found lunch and wandered around a mall for a bit to enjoy the air conditioning and kill time. The hotel had said to check back in an hour, so after walking about a bit I went back. My room still wasn't ready, which was annoying because by then I was hot, sweaty and tired. My taxi driver had told me that we were about four blocks from where my appointment would be on Monday, so I decided to scope it out. I walked in the other direction for six blocks, in 96° heat and disgusting humidity, but I didn't see the hotel. I saw a Borders and decided to hang out there while I waited for my room. It was quite busy and there weren't any available seats, but there were several truly gorgeous Asian boys to ogle (Oriental boys to my English readers) which made the trip worthwhile. Still I wanted somewhere to sit so I headed out. Next door was Ghirardelli, and I walked in planning to get a sundae as a sort of long-distance bonding with Ross. They were crowded too and I talked myself out of it because my tummy was acting up. My feet were really tired at this point, but I didn't have much option other than to keep wandering back to the hotel. This time the room was ready and despite a seriously dinky and somewhat less than pristine bathroom, the room was fine. I vegged out for a bit and had a shower so my hair would be dry by bed. There were two Japanese restaurants on the list provided by the hotel and I chose one of them for dinner. Dinner was great and there were more cute Asian boys at the restaurant. Chicago definitely has quality eye candy. Back at the hotel I watched a documentary on Second City, set everything out for the morning and hit the sack. Everything went smoothly in the morning. I wore my best business suit with a big broach my mother had given me for luck. I took a cab to the hotel where the audition was being held, stored my big bag there and had time for a croissant and a tea from the coffee shop in the lobby. I made my way to the interview room in good time and regretted taking my book out of my briefcase to make it lighter. There were about twenty people there and only one of them was dressed as well as I was. That should work in my favour as you are supposed to dress up for the audition. When we lined up to get our paperwork, one of the interviewers complimented my broach. I told her that it was my Mom's and that she had started giving away her jewelry now, rather than leave it to us so she could see us wearing it. The interviewer really liked that story and thought it was a great idea. Then we had our pictures taken. I gave them a big smile which the man taking the pictures complimented. I have to thank my sister Diane for that because her first piece of advice when I made the cut was to smile a lot because I look better when I smile. I also found myself very grateful to have my mobile, since I drew a blank on what Flint station shows Jeopardy and could only remember the Detroit one. A quick, surreptitious call to Diane solved that problem. The first part of the interview was a little warm up and explanation of the process. The woman who complimented my broach and the man who took the pictures did all of the talking, while the other two staff members were pretty much in the background. He taught us some tricks with a group of questions that illustrated how the questions are written and work, things like how to pick up clues within the clues, what items in quotation marks mean, and how you have to pay attention to the category title in your answers. The woman kept bursting into song at the drop of a hat just like my mother always does. That made me feel quite comfortable, but I'm not sure how the others felt. Then we watched a recorded greeting from Alex Trebek and the Clue Crew. We took another 50 item test like the one we had taken on line. I feel pretty confident that I did well. I would say there were less than five questions I really had to guess on. After that they scored the quizzes while the woman taught us how the buzzers work and how to get the best results. Then they called us up three at a time to play a practice round. They wanted to see how energetic we would be, how well we would work the buzzers and how well we would keep the game moving. You don't want to just stand there after you answer a question, you need to choose the next category and move on. After a bit of that they do a little interview like Alex does during the show. They asked us to tell them about ourselves and what we would do if we won a lot of money. I remembered from the last time I took the test that they asked about the money so I had my answer prepared. The interview bit went very smoothly. First the woman told the whole room the story about my broach. Then the asked me about myself. I said I was forty and she exclaimed, "You don't look it." I said I was a librarian and gave my usual spiel about it being the best job in the world because you get paid to spend other people's money buying books. The whole room said, "Oooooh!" which tells you all you need to know about a Jeopardy crowd. The man asked me a bit about what library I worked at then the woman, who had my application, asked me about Diane. You had to put on the application whether you knew anyone who had been on Jeopardy, so I had mentioned her. She asked when she was on and I told her 1992, and she asked if it was the teen tournament. I laughed and said Diane was ten years older than me, but that she had been on with Art Fleming when she was eighteen. This drew another "oooh" from the crowd. She asked me how Diane had done and I told her that she had one twice and came in second on the third game and I always thought it was my fault. He asked why and I told them about sitting in the audience while Diane was on the show and how during Final Jeopardy my Mom and I were gripping each other's hands in a death grip. When I got to the third time I thought to myself, "I'm not sure I can go through this two more times," and then she lost. She said, "So you cursed her?" and he said he didn't think it was my fault. Then she asked me what I would do if I won 3 million dollars, which was more than I had planned for in my answer. I had planned to say I would travel more because I had friends in Britain who wanted me to visit more often than I could afford to now. I still said that, but I started by saying I would buy a big Victorian house in Stratford, Ontario. That was it, but as I walked to sit down the woman said, "I love your suit, too." The rest was just waiting for the others to be finished. By sheer coincidence, a man who teaches at the community college right around the corner from the library was also there. They told us that they could call as early as the end of this week, or as late as two years from now. I feel good about my chances because I know I made a strong, positive impression on at least that one woman and that should stand me in good stead. All I can do now is wait. After the interview I made a quick change in the hotel bathroom and met my brother and his family for lunch. By another wild coincidence they were taking the train to St. Louis and their layover in Chicago matched up perfectly with the time between my audition and my own train home. It was nice to get to see them all, and I wisely stopped to buy drinks and munchies at a drug store so I wouldn't have to buy much on the train. The train journey home was even worse than going out. We were delayed for an hour while they tried to fix the motor. Then we moved about 100 yards and shuddered to a halt. They said they were going to keep working on the motor, but if they couldn't get it running they would hook up another one. After a second hour they decided to turn the train around and run it with the engine in back. I had already made a point of moving my seat so I would be facing forward and now I was going to be backward anyway. From that point it was mostly smooth until East Lansing where the lights in the train went out and they told us they would have to reconnect the wires when the stopped. Then, at the stop before Flint, for no adequately explained reason they turned the train around again without telling us so we all thought we were going backward. Crazy train drivers! Oh, and the drunk college girl fighting with her sister in the seat across from me was almost as bad as the screaming children and drove me back to the ear plugs. I arrived at Flint at about 11:30 to find my air conditioning no better. Fortunately it appeared that the skunks had missed my neighborhood that night so I was able to sleep with the windows cracked. In the morning I remembered that I have a service contract on my furnace and air conditioning with the local utility. I called them and they said they would send someone out that day. Since I couldn't miss work they promised to call my mobile so I could meet them at home. It worked out that they called during my lunch hour, which was good. The blower, however, was dead enough that he needed to take it away for the day to work on it and the air conditioner had been trying so hard to cool the house that it blew a fuse, which was bad. On top of that the drain in my basement floor was backing up. On Wednesday I called my plumber and he said I had to call a sewer company. I was really worried about how much the sewer cleaning would cost, but it was only $70.00, thank Gods! They sewer guy came out at 6:00 right after I got home and the furnace man got there at about 6:30. So everything got fixed and they weren't bumping into each other. Now I just need to get the lingering smell out of my basement and life will be fine. I think I could go for a nice, uneventful week after that. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
12:09 pm	Luddite no more Today I finally gave in and bought myself a mobile phone. I don't think I would have done it if my employers hadn't given me a $20 gift card to an office store as our yearly "thank you gift". After weeks of searching the stores website and reading their ads, the only thing in the price range that looked interesting were the pay-as-you-go mobiles. There was one for $19.99 about a month ago, but I didn't make it to the store in time. This week for the first time since then there was a sale for $19.99, and this one came with 60 minutes of airtime. The timing was perfect as I really wanted it for traveling, especially with the Jeopardy trip coming up. The battery is charging as we speak. I can't activate it until it is fully charged, so I won't have a phone number for a while. I will text you when I get it, Ross. I will also probably transfer over all the numbers I have on Random's phone from Enlarged, though I have no idea what international calls will cost me. I don't plan to use it all the time, as I still don't wnat to be available 24/7. It is mainly for traveling, when I am meeting someone and I'm on the road and for emergencies. I know, I know, that's what they all say. I guess this means that Milby beat me as a hold out. I am ashamed of that. Current Mood: pleased (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
1:18 pm	WOW I seem to be having rather a run of luck at the moment. At my conference last weekend a number of publishers and vendors bought me breakfasts and lunches. I was also given a $50 gift card to Borders for talking with a publisher about book design for 15 minutes. Then the next morning I won a gift basket at a breakfast sponsored by a database vendor. One of the publishers who put me on their library board and bought me a swank lunch will be sending me $75.00 for my time, and the other on already paid me $500 last fall. Add the free books, comics, tote bags and other swag and it was quite a good conference. This morning, though, my luck has stepped up a bit. I just received an email telling me that I made it through the first round of Jeopardy testing and they have made an appointment for me to do the second round in Chicago in August. Wow, just wow! I had honestly forgotten I even took the online test. I am trying not to get my hopes up. I passed the first round and took the second round once before and they never called me, so it may not happen. Still, it will be fun and I'm pleased I was good enough to pass the test. Wish me luck everyone! Current Mood: surprised (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
10:52 am	Books I've Read Volume 3 A little update to start. I had a very nice vacation visiting my brothers and their families. Having to share my Mom is always a bit annoying, but I had a good time. The best part was that most of my aches and pains went away during the trip. I guess my chiropracter is right that most of them are work-related. Tomorrow I am off again for a conference in Washington, DC. I have taken a couple years off conferences and it is nice to be back. I will be concentrating on reconnecting with my contacts from previous conferences and putting my professional activities outside of work back on track. Now, onto the books. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki I read the entire series, about 7 volumes in one day while waiting for a delivery at my sister's place. It was brilliant. I had seen the movie and Mick told me that the graphic novel was much more complex than the film. He was right, especially about a particular character who, while not one-sided in the film, was considerably more interesting and complicated in the book. That is one thing that Miyazaki does exceedingly well. None of his characters is ever one dimensional and you can understand the motivations of everyone on every side of the disputes in his work. If you like manga or anime at all, you should track this down. Waifs and Strays by Charles DeLint This was a short story collection primarily geared toward Young Adult audiences, something I didn't realize when I picked it up for cheap in Stratford last year. The teen thing didn't bother me at all, as it was more a case of stories with teen characters rather than stories written at a lower reading level. The stories ranged across all of DeLints main locations and interests and it was a good sampling. He wrote little introductions to each story about how he had written them. I learned a couple years ago that he is married to the cousin of a friend of mine and met him at her father's funeral. I don't think of it much, but some of the introductions weirded me out with the shared travels and acquantances. It's funny how that works. Trigun Maximum, Volumes 5 and 6 by Yasuhiro Nightow These had been sitting in a bag with The Brightonomicon since I bought them both almost two years ago. How sad is that? I don't have much to say about them. They are in the middle of a series that I have been reading for a while. If you like the anime of Trigun, or manga and anime in general, this is a good one. It is the story of an brilliant gunfighter who has an enormous price on his head. He is being trailed by two female insurance agents handling claims on the destruction he wreaks. We learn pretty quickly that he is a gentle soul whose skills with a gun allow him to diffuse situations without ever killing. He is being targeted by agents of his psychotic brother who wants to destroy his faith in humanity so that he will turn agains them and help his brother destroy them. It sounds pretty grim, but there are funny elements. You should check it out. Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace by Hiroyuki Itsuki I must admit I bought this book for the library, and read it, in part because it had a picture of an incredibly cute Asian boy on the cover. I'm not the only one who noticed either. While I was reading it, other women would see it in my hand and ask what it was with that tone that made it clear they were eyeing the cute guy on the cover. Sadly, this proved to be deceptive advertising as the author stated he was pushing seventy when he wrote the book. So either it was an old picture or he aged very, very well. Shallow motives aside, this was a very moving and important book for me. It was discussion of Buddhism, particularly Pure Land Buddhism, a Japanese sect that believes Amida Buddha will grant you rebirth into his Pure Land - something like heaven - if you call on him. Particularly the book was about an aspect of Pure Land known as "outside power" which is how the word tariki translates. The author started from the premise that this earth is full of evil and suffering and that it is only rational to be depressed by what we see. He said that it is only by the other power of Amida Buddha calling to us and showing us the way that we can escape this world and the cycle of death and rebirth. He explained the teaching of the three great scholars of Pure Land Buddhism. The primary practice of Pure Land is chanting "Namo Amida Butsu" which should be seen not as a supplication, but an expression of joy and recognition of the help that Amida Buddha has given. There isn't time or room here to explain it as well as he did, but it was a great book and it helped me a lot. I feel reenergized for the practice of Buddhism and I want to seek out more books on Pure Land. The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling This was a collection of short stories, mostly of the fairy tales for adults variety that I so love. One of the same DeLint stories that was in Waifs and Strays was in it, so I didn't reread it. They were good, but uneven, and some worked very broadly with the concept. I think I liked the ones that struck closest to the Green Man concept best. There was a Tanith Lee, which of course I loved. It was light reading and good if you like that sort of thing. I think their actually fairy tale anthologies are better, though. Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country by Joe Queenan Another book I picked up because it was a bargain, I had heard an interview with the author when it came out and meant to read it at the time. It has a similar origin to Notes on a Small Island in that it is written by an American, married to an Englishwoman who decides to travel Britain without her to see all the places they miss while they are visiting family. Queenan is very funny, and very scathing. He doesn't like Pre-Raphealites, Birmingham (in part because of Pre-Raphealites), Richard III and a number of other things. He does like pestering tour guides to give him the gory details of royal murders, particularly that of Edward II whose particularly cruel goriness really intrigues him. (In case you don't know, Edward II is reputed to have been killed by having a hot poker shoved up his bum, supposedly so there would be no outward signs that he was murdered.) He spends quite a lot of time discussing the concept of "coochiness" which I must confess is an English term I have never heard. This disturbed me as I am quite an anglophile myself and thought I knew almost all British slang. If any of my British friends could tell me if they use, or have heard of this word, I would greatly appreciate it. The Brightonomicon by Robert Rankin And at last, I felt I had earned the right to read my next Rankin book. I had been putting off the pleasure for some time in anticipation, and even put it off further by buying Queenan Country while on vacation. I'm like that. I prefer to anticipate something than to finish it. I have to say, this was a bit of a let down. I am not sure exactly why, but The Brightonomicon just didn't do it for me. It may be because I didn't think that Jim and Rune worked as well as other pairings. It could be because I can't seem to warm to Rune as a hero after he was the baddie in his first appearance. It could be because it lacked the best friend aspect that I find so irresistible in Rankin's other books. I just don't know. I guess I can't expect to totally love everything and I'm sure it is just a temporary blip. I will let you know many months from now when I allow myself to read the next one. Current Mood: calm (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
6:05 pm	Off on vacation Not that anyone would notice since I rarely update this thing, but I'm off on vacation tomorrow for two weeks. With the events of the last two days I doubt that will be enough time to get over being sick of this place. Management is planning to freeze our salaries and slash our health care benefits. This is at a point where we are already so short staffed that we are all nearing burnout. This is not a happy time to work here. Still, two weeks away visiting annoying brothers, and their considerably less annoying families will be nice. Plus I get to visit my wonderful friend Bill and hang out with my Mommy. I certainly need it. Current Mood: stressed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
12:05 pm	Books I've Read Volume 2 - Book Talk Edition Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins: The Autobiography by Rupert Everett This started off quite good, very funny and just snide enough about his childhood and education. Then he became famous and everything went downhill. The book was just one anecdote after another about star-fucking, literal and figurative. After a while it became monotonous, but I imagine it would be okay if you are interested in that sort of thing. The reason I like Rupert Everett in the first place is because he starred in one of my favourite movies, Cemetery Man or Dellamorte Dellamore as it was originally called. So I was very disappointed that he didn't even mention it in the book despite having a picture from it in the photo section. It's sad, I really liked his acting after that movie but now I've quite gone off him. I had a Book Talk scheduled for one of our branches in late April to be repeated at a retirement community in May. I had not thought of a theme but after reading the Claude Rains book and the Rupert Everett book I thought that movie star biographies might be a good way to go. Because my audiences are mostly seniors (OAPs to you Brits) and to wash the bad taste of the Rupert Everett book out of my mouth I decided to focus on the golden age of Hollywood. About halfway through the project I also decided to restrict myself to autobiographies. My library owns enough of them to make it feasible and many of them are out of print, a few decades old and could use the sales pitch. So here they are. Cagney by Cagney by Jimmy Cagney I chose this book first because I remembered my sister Sharon reading it when I was a kid. I was nine when it was published so I guess she bought it new. Cagney is very down to earth and humble, but also very sure of himself and opinionated. You get an insight into how the movie business worked back then and how little they cared about the stars. There were a few memorable incidents when they used live ammunition while making his gangster pictures that were quite chilling. He also writes quite a bit about his interests outside of movies, which include raising Morgan horses, poetry, and painting. Near the end of the book he talks at length about the joys of retirement. He also explains his political development, going from a liberal in the Twenties to a conservative in the Sixties, and his deep commitment to conservation. He reminded me a lot of my father and my father's generation, although he was actually more like my grandfather's age. Child Star: The Autobiography by Shirley Temple You would think that growing up the most famous child in the world would warp you in some way, but Shirley Temple comes off as relentlessly normal. She truly loved dancing, performing and was driven to please people. She adored her mother, who worked hard to give her as normal a life as possible, and was quite the tomboy at home. Although her father managed to spend all her money, she forgave him and he comes off as incompetent rather than avaricious. Her real troubles started when she was a teenager and went to work for Selznick after a few years off. That's when she started being chased around offices by pervy producers, culminating in a rape during a train journey. She came through all of that as well as a bad first marriage and the discovery that after years of work and earning millions she only had $40,000 left and wound up strong, level-headed and completely happy in her second marriage. I wonder if Mary Kate and Ashley will be able to say the same in thirty years. My Story by Ingrid Bergman I wasn't a huge fan of Ingrid Bergman when I read this book. I liked her work when I saw it, but mostly only watched the movies she did with Claude Rains, Casablanca and Notorious because they are so brilliant. After reading this book, though, I have to say I LOVE Ingrid Bergman. She was so wonderfully feisty and uncompromising in her career. When she first got to Hollywood Selznick told her she would have to change her name, pluck her eyebrows, have her teeth fixed and wear make-up. She said no way and if you feel that way I may just as well go back on the next train and chalk it up to a mutual mistake. Not only did he cave, but he came out of it thinking it was his own idea. Now that is an impressive lady. Over and over again people in Hollywood told her she didn't understand the star system, that you played one type of role forever and that's how it worked. She always told them that she became an actress to play a variety of people and that's what she was going to do. And she won in the end. In contrast to her strength and determination professionally she chose very controlling men in her personal life. It was sad that it resulted in the scandal that engulfed her life and tarnished her Hollywood career. She doesn't blame anyone else for her mistakes though she makes it clear that the media exacerbated the situation and hurt everyone involved. Perhaps I am supposed to think her a bad example for putting her art and her career before her family, but I can't. I have long since ceased expecting great artists to be able to maintain a happy family life and I feel fortunate to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices. This 'n That by Bette Davis Bette Davis had already written one autobiography before this book so this is not a complete memoir. It was written after she suffered a stroke nine days after having a mastectomy and served, I am sure, as part of her recovery. Although the writing was completed before her daughter trashed her in her own book, it was published afterward and there are references to it in the introduction and appendixes. Davis comes off in writing exactly as she does on the screen, feisty, catty, uncompromising, willing to compliment where due and criticize where due. Of the books on this list it was only when reading this book was I able to "hear" some of it in the author's voice as I read it. You won't learn as much about movie making from this as from the others, but there are some interesting anecdotes. I was pleased that she said Claude Rains was her favourite costar of them all. She wrote quite a bit about her family, her poor choices for her second and third husband and her love for her children. She wrote about how hard it was for her to allow her daughter to marry at sixteen, and to a man much older than her. It was hard to know how much of that was added or rewritten after her betrayal, but it lent a poignancy to it all knowing her daughter was going to stab her in the back. I can't say my opinion of Bette Davis changed after reading this. She was just as you would expect her to be so if you like her going in you will like her coming out and vice versa. Steps in Time by Fred Astaire My sister Diane, the manic Fred Astaire fan, recommended this to me. She had earlier suggested Harpo Speaks but unfortunately the library doesn't own a copy. Astaire wrote this in 1958, before his retirement from dancing and just as he was beginning to see that he might have a career as an actor without dancing. About half of the book covered his time in vaudeville and on Broadway and the London stage with his sister Adele. He made his professional debut at four years old, so perhaps he should be the poster child for well adjusted child stars rather than Shirley Temple. He writes in detail about the making of his films and the work he did creating and rehearsing dances for them. He also writes lovingly of his wife Phyllis, who he adored and who sadly died young, and of his children. One thing I did not know about him is that he was a serious race horse owner and breeder on the side. He clearly loves horses and racing and it makes an interesting aside to his dancing career. Fred has nothing bad to say about anyone, so if you are looking for Hollywood dirt, look elsewhere. It is a light and pleasant portrait of entertainment history covering the three big arenas of the time, vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood. Now that I am done with my book talk I am going to spend some time on fiction and graphic novels. I have a Charles de Lint waiting for me as well as the complete Nausicaa. I also think I have more than earned my next Rankin book. Now that I only have two left I may well have already reached the one a year stage I have been dreading, but I will try to keep at least one novel behind at all times so it doesn't feel that way. Current Mood: calm (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
7:26 pm	Took this from Bill's Blog Mega Food Meme What’s your #1 comfort food? Mushroom noodle casserole, which is simply egg noodles with cream of mushroom soup baked in the oven. If you were on a deserted island, what one food would you want to have with you? Rice, I loves me some rice. What is/are your signature dishes? (What dishes are you ‘known’ for?) Black Forest Cookies is the main one. The funny thing is that depending on who you ask they would name a different dish. I asked one of my sisters and my best friend and they both named dishes that I only cook for them. I am certain my Mom and my other sisters would name different dishes as well. I guess I just change it up too much. It’s Friday night, you don’t know what to cook. You opt for… Something with rice, either cooking it in bullion and eating it like that or adding some kind of sauce, or thawing a chicken breast and serving it either in a sauce or sautéed along with the rice. When in doubt I always fall back on rice and chicken. What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to food? I’m going to go with mushroom cream sauces, because I know cream sauces are bad for me and I can’t resist. Especially if it is with fresh maitake mushrooms, for which I will pay a lot of money, although I’m relieved that Trader Joe’s now stocks them at a reasonable price. What food can you absolutely not eat? Garlic! It won’t kill me but it will make me pray for death. There are actually quite a few foods I can’t or shouldn’t eat due to IBS but garlic is by far the worst. You need a drink. You grab a… Arizona green tea with honey and ginseng, but if you mean alcoholic then I go for cider. What’s the most decadent dish you’ve had? Last New Year’s I made a cake that was chocolate cake layered with pistachio preserves and white chocolate butter cream and covered in ganache. That’s the most decadent thing I can think of, but the red velvet, white chocolate bumpy cake I had made two weeks earlier for my best friend’s birthday might top it. What’s your favorite type of food? You mean cuisine? I like British food but only if I’m cooking it. I love Chinese but can’t eat many of my favourite dishes anymore because of the garlic. Italian is probably my overall favourite, in part because my Sicilian mother is a fantastic cook and taught me. Again I can’t eat out Italian because of garlic but if the chef will make it without garlic or I make it myself it can’t be beat. Favorite dish? My mom’s chicken and rice casserole. If your partner could take you to any restaurant you wanted, which one would it be? Acqua in Toronto - After my first visit there, my female best friend said she had never heard me talk about a meal or a restaurant so much. I replied that I finally knew what it felt like to have a favourite restaurant. I have only been there once since and it didn’t disappoint. Are you a soup or salad person? I am a salad person but can no longer be because it irritates my IBS. I do like soup, though, but I miss salad. Buffet, take-out or sit-down restaurant? Sit-down restaurant, although take-out is nice too. What’s the most impressive dinner you’ve ever made? When I lived in San Antonio I cooked a full seven course meal for 6 people. It was quite a challenge, and expensive because while I had enough dishes I had to buy several kinds of glasses for everyone. Still it was a triumph of gluttonous proportions. Do you consider yourself a good cook? Hell yes, I ain’t even going to pretend to modesty on that score. Do you know what vichyssoise is? Cold potato and leek soup. Who’s your favorite TV cook? Julia Child, made me want to become a chef and will never be topped in my mind. Can you name at least three TV cooking personalities? Julia Child, Paula Deen, Chen Kenichi, Hiroyuki Sakai, Roksaburo Michiba, Masuhiro Morimoto, Masahiko Kobe, Alton Brown, Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson, Ming Tsai - Is that enough yet? Homemade or homemade from a box? Generally homemade although I still do make my cakes and brownies from a box Name 3 or more other foodies you are going to tag. None of my foodie friends ever reads this, but in case one should I’m tagging Lloyd. Current Mood: happy Current Music: Nowt (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
6:53 pm	Quiz/Survey from the lovely, smiley JackDaw JUST REPLY TO THE QUESTIONS IN THE USUAL WAY YOU REPLY TO POSTS - THEN POST IT ON YOUR LJ SO I CAN DO THE SAME FOR YOU. 1. Can you cook? 2. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? 3. What talent do you wish you had? 4. Favorite place? 5. Favorite vegetable? 6. What was the last book you read? 7. What zodiac sign are you ? 8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? 9. Worst Habit? HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...YAY!!!!!! (/sarcasm) 1. Do we know each other outside of LJ? 2. What's your philosophy on life? 3. Negative or Optimistic? 4. What was your dream growing up? 5. Worst thing to ever happen to you? 7. Tell me one weird fact about you: 9. Do you Trust me? 10. Do you know how to do the macerana? 11. What time is it where you are now? 12. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? 13. Would you dance to a Britney Spears song??? 14. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? 15. If you could change anything about me, would you? 16. How do you fall asleep? 17. Do you eat broccoli?? 18. Would you eat green eggs and ham?? 19. If you only had one day to live how would u spend it? 20. A million bucks.. what would you do with it? 21. What is your worst fear? 22. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? 23. How many times did you curse at me while filling out this thing? 24. What do you look for in a partner? 25. Can you sing or dance? 26. In one word, how would you describe yourself? 27. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? Current Mood: chipper (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007
6:20 pm	I think I need a vacation Last night I called a passive-aggressive patron on her crap. She got really nasty. Apparently, passive-agressive jerks don't like being called on it. Who knew (or cared)? On a personal level I'm not bothered. I never let passive-aggressive people get away with it in my personal life. However, it's not like me to do the same in a professional position. I let my customer service training take a backseat and I wondered if that meant I need a break. Then I did it again today. I was telling some teens, for the second time in about ten minutes, that they weren't allowed to bunch up around the computers. One of them, who had been acting up earlier, said, "Do I detect a bit of attitude?" To which I replied, "Yes, actually, you do." Again, not the kind of thing I normally say at work. One incident like that every so often is understandable frustration. Two in two days is a desperate cry for a vacation. Unfortunately, I don't have one scheduled until the end of May. I hope the patrons and I will survive until then. Current Mood: stressed Current Music: Ant Music (stuck in my head) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 5th, 2007
4:19 pm	Something I don't like about my job There are things about my job I like and things I don't. Today I had the pleasure of doing one of the things I don't. It was book donation day this past Saturday, which means starting today we get to sort through the donations to choose books to add to the library's collection. This job includes the unpleasant task of book sniffing. I know there are people out their who love old book smell, but believe me sniffing a pile of books to decide if they are too mildewy for the library gets old fast. It also leads to some rather unique questions, such as: A) Is old-lady smell sufficent to reject a book or does it have to be full on mildew to justify refusing it? B) Why is it that the one book that makes me think, "Great! My patrons will love this!" has old water damage that is causing all of the pages to crumble as you try to open it? The answers to which are: A) No, old-lady smell might go away with a good airing so you may as well keep it. and B) Because the Gods hate me. Sigh, I need a vacation. Current Mood: depressed (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 1st, 2007
12:37 pm	Question for the Brits So I've just seen my perfect living room colour on an episode of Changing Rooms. I went to their website and found the name, code and manufacturer and I am lucky enough to live very close to a distributor of Dulux paints. My question for you is how good are Dulux paints? I checked Consumer Reports paint review and they didn't test it. I know it is very common over there, though, so I hoped some of you would know. Current Mood: curious (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 16th, 2007
5:14 pm	I just realized I am officially over the internet. Unfortunately, I still spend six to eight hours a day stuck in front of a computer screen and bored. Since I'm not allowed to play games on desk I will still be hanging out online out of desperation. I should just sit here and read books like some librarians-who-will-not-be-named do, but that strikes me as unprofessional. Current Mood: bored (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007
12:57 pm	Books I've Read, Volume 1 Inspired by my friend Bill's year-end list of all the books he read last year, I have decided to try to keep track of what I read this year and post a bit about each. Here is the first in what I hope will be a year-long series Emma by Jane Austen - I found the main character incredibly annoying until about halfway through the book when an even more annoying character was introduced who made her look good by comparison. She was still an incredible snob, though. The 101 Most Influential People who Never Lived by Allan Lazar, Dan Karlen and Jeremy Salter - Good points: quick read, amusing concept. Bad points: poor research leading to glaring inaccuracies, authors far too amused by themselves leading to some painfully cutesy entries, the incomprehensible omission of any character representing the American Gangster archetype, or a pirate. Italian Fables by Italo Calvino - I really wanted his Italian Folktales for a specific tale and I thought this was the same. Unfortunately the tale I wanted wasn't in this one and I'll have to track down the complete version. The stories were fine and I have learned to never, ever trust an Italian King. They have an annoying habit of sending their servants off on impossible missions until either their greed is sated or the servant gets killed. Claude Rains : a comprehensive illustrated reference to his work in film, stage, radio, television, and recordings by John T. Soister and JoAnna Wioskowski - Honestly I'm still reading this. I wanted to read a biography of Claude Rains and learned that no such thing exists. The closest I could find was this book, which has a biographical introduction. I have finished the introduction and I'm not sure if I am going to read all the film descriptions. I'd rather watch them anyway. Still, it isn't due back until the 28th, so I'll keep plugging away. Current Mood: Bookish (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 5th, 2007
2:36 pm	Priorities I guess the year I spent some time ago spending money only on experiences not things rubbed off. While I have been hemming and hawing for weeks over whether I could justify buying the Dr. Who box set, I didn't hesitate a second to spend the same amount of money on tickets to the symphony on Friday. I helps that they were playing what is probably my favourite classical piece of all time, Beethoven's first piano concerto. It also helps that the last time the Detroit Symphony performed it I got my Mom and sisters all together to take me to it, only to move to Texas after the tickets were bought so that they all went without me. I am quite sure the lingering resentment spurred my easy purchasing decision. I have no such excuse for spending more than the tickets cost for a posh meal for Mick and I after the concert. It was yummy, though, and if I were Random and could post pictures on here I would have photographic evidence. Instead you'll just have to take my word for it that: Fall Poached Pear and Bitter Greens Mixed Greens with Celery Root Ribbons, Toasted Hazelnuts, Petite Basque Cheese Twirl, Sliced Pear, and Grand Marnier Vinaigrette followed by Jail Island Salmon Filet a la Riberna * Fresh East Coast Canadian Salmon Slowly Roasted in Woodpecker English Cider Reduction with Poached Potato, Spinach and Cured Ham Cracklin’ followed by a very yummy Creme Brulee was well worth the price. Mick said the same of his seared scallop, lamb shank and chocolate lava cake. So I guess I won't be buying that box set, then. Current Mood: cheerful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
8:00 pm	I just did my taxes I am getting about $1000 back, which is less than I owe my mother for the engine I had to put in my car in December, but still a nice chunk of change. My Mom is quite willing to wait to be paid back, because she's nice that way. Also, when I redid my budget after my raise and reduction in some expenses I learned that I am now actually making more than I'm spending and may be able to pay her back out of my wages in not too long. Thirdly, no one gave me the (inappropriately named in the larger scheme of things) Season Two Dr. Who box set despite numerous hints to the effect that the U.S. release date was exactly a week before my birthday. So, with all those facts in mind, does that make it okay for me to blow over $100 on the Cyberman head-shaped Dr. Who DVD boxset from Amazon UK? Oh, and I'm turning 40 tomorrow. Some people seem to think that's important. In other news, I have a splitting headache and "in pain" is not one of the options for mood. What's up with that? Current Mood: cranky (2 Comments |Comment on this)