At long last, I re-read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (who turns out to have been a professor of design at Hampshire College and an Amherst resident, which may explain why I was able to buy a signed copy from a Northampton bookstore circa 2002). This book was extremely formative for me. Mr. Spinella read it aloud to the class when I was in ( Read more... )

No one will ever read this, and that's fine ( Read more... )

Create your own travel map - TravBuddy

Oklahoma and Arkansas are done! Mostly because my visit to Texas turned into a massive circular road trip. Only seven states to go. It's getting harder to find an excuse, though ( Read more... )

No one reads this. I know that. Still, I feel like I should say something every now and again ( Read more... )

Create your own travel map - TravBuddy

Only 9 states to go...

Create your own travel map - TravBuddy

I recently made the (perhaps rash?) decision to buy every single Redwall novel I didn't already own (which was all but three) and then read them in order in a short period of time (I am interspersing them with all the Discworld novels in order, so it won't be completely crazy). Last night I finished the original, which I first read at the age of 9 ( Read more... )

I am not having a stellar day. Rather than clutter my Facebook timeline with vaguebooking, allow me to enumerate some of my misery here, where only the most dogged stalkers will read it.

1) I watched the first two episodes of Season 1 of Game of Thrones last night. I think it gave me nightmares ( Read more... )

Pro Tip: Nobody wants your tips on how to look better. Especially not strangers who are obligated by their jobs to talk to you ( Read more... )

I am so sorry, face-staring public, that having some slightly unfortunate-looking skin on my chin seems to make you so uncomfortable that you feel you have the right to say things like "what's that on your face?" (random dude at the bus stop) or "is that a rash?" (my boss just now). Seriously. WTF ( Read more... )