I'm making a concerted effort to read in small chunks, and chew 32 times before swallowing... all these books are ones that need to be digested.
This weekend: camping
Next weekend: visiting New York
That's all for now. Coming soon: Pictures in less than 1000 words
Thought Soup
Long, long time. Sorry. Lots going on, but all on the inside. It's just been a weird couple of months. Seems like 28 is a good year to play emotional archaeology... but it's good. Hopefully we can rip off the barnacles, trim in the sails, pull this thing back into the wind, and get going again! That's the royal we - thank God.
Which reminds me - flat out weirdest bumper sticker of all time: "God was my copilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him." Spotted at Whole Foods. I knew that place was odd...
Looks like a busy month coming up, though - playing music with Andy at his church next weekend, camping the weekend after that, and hopefully New York over halloween. Crazy. Not to mention doing an internal launch of the new CDC website sometime this coming week.
Aaarrr!!!
Avast maties, today be National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Shiver me timbers.
Unfortunately, sometimes you feel like talking like a pirate, and sometimes you don't. I woke up feeling decidedly unswashbuckling this morning. Pirates aren't supposed to wake up feeling fragile and emotional!
But a pirate's gotta do what a pirate's gotta do, eh? Hoist the mainsail, ye scurvy landlubbers! Bring 'er round, that's the way, and we be off for adventure!
Due to popular demand (more than one person telling me they wanted to buy me a book for my birthday, but didn't know what to buy), I've created a BooksForPresents page on my wiki. (What's a wiki?)
Today I drove up to Little River Canyon National Park, and hiked (okay, walked) down into the canyon at Eberhart Point. I did not take my camera (the point was to get away from all that), so you'll have to look at other people's pictures (hmmm — perhaps a trip in early Autumn when the leaves are changing is in order).
Little River Canyon is quite amazing - apparently it's the longest river in the US that runs along the top of a mountain (in this part of the world, a "mountain" is anything hill higher than about a ten storey building). The river is always surprisingly warm, and today was no exception. Although it seemed to be running somewhat low, there were still many large, deep pools. The threat of rain seemed to have kept people away, because I didn't meet a soul down in the canyon... wonderful!
I chatted with my cousin Con yesterday, and he encouraged me strongly to visit South Africa when they're down there. I shall have to broach the subject of unpaid leave again with the powers that be. Explaining to Con how little vacation we get in America compared with England was funny, in a sad kind of way.
Speaking of differences between America and England, I watched a good chunk of tennis this weekend. In South Africa, we used to watch Wimbledon every year, and I've hardly followed it at all since we moved here, so Wimbledon is still my picture of what tennis is supposed to be like. The focus on the prize money during the award ceremonies left me feeling a bit disgusted. It just seemed so crass. However, I was totally drawn in by the tennis. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is to watch. Some of the plays left me almost teary-eyed they were so amazing.
And speaking of tennis, last weekend was probably the first time I've actually played since the two or three times we hit around in college, and the lessons we used to take in Senior Primary (Middle) School. Serving is so much easier when you're 6'2''! I think I might have to play a bit more. I'm sure I could beat Andy if I practiced for - oh - about three years or so!
I'm listening to Bosnian radio over the internet, and feeling weird. Technology brings pictures and sounds perfectly across thousands of miles, connecting suddenly with memories and feelings buried months and years deep. I can see the cobbled streets, smell the cevapi cooking, hear the trams rattling by, feel the snow and ice underfoot.
I had dinner at Chris and Andreja's the other night, with Dani. She's back after her first five-year stay in Sarajevo, which means it's been four years since I lived there on her first year. Visiting in January was wonderful, though. It's a bit of a discipline to focus on the goodness of those moments of feeling at home in different places all over the world, rather than to focus on the badness of those moments of feeling not-at-home in different places all over the world!
Updated words.
We have a new sister! This weekend, Trent and Leah were married in Toronto. It was absolutely wonderful. I may write more later when I'm not wiped out, but here are some pictures for now.
Wow. What a long week at work. I thought I was through with the whole writing-design-documents-as-you-write-code thing when I left the consulting job. I guess it's just part of programming a lot of the time. Not so bad now, though — things are a little clearer now. Just a heck of a lot of stuff to get done rather soon
Tonight we watched Mansfield Park. I just about drove myself crazy trying to figure out where I'd seen the main actress before, until I could get to IMDB and realize that she was the mother in AI. As for the movie, I'm not entirely sure what I think about it. I definitely agree with the girls that it's a chick-flick. Some of the odd developments (like Fanny Price settling down happily to spend her days on the estate after being so obviously shocked by the horrors upon which its wealth was based) are apparently the result of placing themes into the story that were not there in the book (slavery), but which were evidently Jane Austen's viewpoints. Fanny's easy re-connection with her past and family seemed a bit too cute, and again, I believe that is not the case in the book. All in all, it looks like it might be a good read!
As a chick-flick, though, it seemed pretty standard fare. The plot (unrequited love with the perfect guy who doesn't get it until the end, when everything works out) was pretty predictable and, predictably, did a great job of having you thinking, "Come on Edmund!" — emotionally engaging if not particularly challenging. Overall, though, it was pretty decent. The characters were quite strong, and will stay with me for a while.
Now I just need to find some guy friends to hang out with!!
