The Tandoors of Perception
I told myself last week that I would delay observance of my birthday until this weekend, a longer and much warmer weekend. So far I haven't done anything terribly celebratory, but I've enjoyed every bit of it. Yesterday I wasted a little bit of time and money at the Friends of the University Libraries book sale. I only bought two books for myself, and the rest were books I bought to donate to Read Between the Bars.
Back at my car, I reclined my seat and finished reading a library book so that I could return it. After returning it I came home, had lunch, and started writing something for the PPAA Blog. Earlier in the month I contacted Stephanie Coontz's agent to see if she would be willing to do an interview about her most recent book. I didn't think she would agree to an interview, since she's appeared on countless radio programs and national TV shows and with that level of exposure could easily afford to ignore inquiries from smaller media. To my surprise, though, her agent forwarded my email, and Ms. Coontz replied promptly with an affirmative answer. I interviewed her on Thursday--with tremendous recording help from alsoname and flw--and transcribed it later that day. I was overloaded with information after reading the book and interviewing the author, so it took a lot of mental effort to synthesize and simplify everything I wanted to say in my introductory paragraphs. Introducing someone else's work--at least in this case--is in many ways harder than writing the beginning paragraphs of something I write entirely by myself. There's a nagging voice telling me I need to do justice to the other person's contribution. But once it was done, the satisfaction was sublime.
After going outside to play with a neighborhood cat and enjoying a nice nap, I woke up and went to Café Passé to enjoy a mint tea and an avocado melt and while away my evening reading some Chomsky--at least until it became too cold to be out on their patio in the light jacket I was wearing.
I returned to the warmth of my home with a copy of Dredd. I think it was one of the most violent comic book movies I've ever seen. Usually studios make comic book movies fairly tame so that minors won't be barred from watching them, but the people making Dredd used nearly every opportunity possible to turn people into crimson fountains--and they got weirdly artistic with their gore.
Speaking of slaughter, I came close to winning a game of Super SCRABBLE this morning. But then locakitty surged from behind like Santorum and made one of the most impressive final moves I've ever seen in the hundreds of games of SCRABBLE and Super SCRABBLE I've played in my life. She played a bingo and not only got a 50-point bingo bonus but also got more than 50 points added to her final score because of the leftover tiles clockworkalien, bryanhelm, Joe, and I had on our racks.
The rest of the day has been a varied mix of things, including picking up a new book I've been wanting to read and getting vegan kimchi tacos at the Food Truck Roundup (from MaFooCo, which I didn't think had vegan or vegetarian items when I first looked at their menu; perhaps they were recently added). Now that I've finally tried kimchi tacos, I can see why they've become so popular. I was skeptical that the flavors could work together. They have to be tasted to be believed.
Back at my car, I reclined my seat and finished reading a library book so that I could return it. After returning it I came home, had lunch, and started writing something for the PPAA Blog. Earlier in the month I contacted Stephanie Coontz's agent to see if she would be willing to do an interview about her most recent book. I didn't think she would agree to an interview, since she's appeared on countless radio programs and national TV shows and with that level of exposure could easily afford to ignore inquiries from smaller media. To my surprise, though, her agent forwarded my email, and Ms. Coontz replied promptly with an affirmative answer. I interviewed her on Thursday--with tremendous recording help from alsoname and flw--and transcribed it later that day. I was overloaded with information after reading the book and interviewing the author, so it took a lot of mental effort to synthesize and simplify everything I wanted to say in my introductory paragraphs. Introducing someone else's work--at least in this case--is in many ways harder than writing the beginning paragraphs of something I write entirely by myself. There's a nagging voice telling me I need to do justice to the other person's contribution. But once it was done, the satisfaction was sublime.
After going outside to play with a neighborhood cat and enjoying a nice nap, I woke up and went to Café Passé to enjoy a mint tea and an avocado melt and while away my evening reading some Chomsky--at least until it became too cold to be out on their patio in the light jacket I was wearing.
I returned to the warmth of my home with a copy of Dredd. I think it was one of the most violent comic book movies I've ever seen. Usually studios make comic book movies fairly tame so that minors won't be barred from watching them, but the people making Dredd used nearly every opportunity possible to turn people into crimson fountains--and they got weirdly artistic with their gore.
Speaking of slaughter, I came close to winning a game of Super SCRABBLE this morning. But then locakitty surged from behind like Santorum and made one of the most impressive final moves I've ever seen in the hundreds of games of SCRABBLE and Super SCRABBLE I've played in my life. She played a bingo and not only got a 50-point bingo bonus but also got more than 50 points added to her final score because of the leftover tiles clockworkalien, bryanhelm, Joe, and I had on our racks.
The rest of the day has been a varied mix of things, including picking up a new book I've been wanting to read and getting vegan kimchi tacos at the Food Truck Roundup (from MaFooCo, which I didn't think had vegan or vegetarian items when I first looked at their menu; perhaps they were recently added). Now that I've finally tried kimchi tacos, I can see why they've become so popular. I was skeptical that the flavors could work together. They have to be tasted to be believed.