books

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to my tech savy friends…do you need your own server to run a torrent tracker? anyone got one I can have 🙂 or want to go into partnership with me?  none of it is making sense to me at all but it’s something i really want to do.

i’m sick. i fell asleep watching the ottawa/pittsburgh game (Go pens!) and missed the dreaming show yesterday. mike was supposed to come over tonight, and canceled, good thing. oddly i want to eat everything, craving weird things, but can’t taste them when i eat. like jalapeño poppers…haha.

my recent adventures in reading has been the Chronicals of Narnia. I was enjoying them until the last book. You can see the Christian parallels and illusions throughout the entire series, but the last one takes the cake. And it bugs me. Why can’t you just have a pure fantasy series for children? Why add all these religious overtones to it? When the last book started I didn’t even want to read it…because yes Narnia is awesome and you don’t want to read about it ending…you don’t want the Ape and Donkey to make a false Aslan cuz of course the shit will hit the fan…but then it gets ok until the end. And I’m talking the very last page…Aslan telling them, well there was a rail accident and you’re all dead now!! wtf must it be so blunt?! blahblahblah he is god, narnia is heaven…. i just want a good story. maybe i should read harry potter. but for now i’m going to read donnie brasco 🙂

that is until the nyquil makes me pass out…and it’s coming on quickly.

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books

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i’ve read alot of books since christmas, and now i don’t remember what they were haha. i did finally read “u2 by u2”. it was pretty good. i can’t say i really learned anything new about the band, and alot of what they said came from interviews i had already read so it felt a bit like de ja vu. I did put down a a few quotes from the book…
Bono – “one thing I really liked on the reel-to-reel was a folky duo called Hunky Dory. I loved that duo. It was years later I discovered it was David Bowie and Hunky Dory was the name of the album.”
Edge- ” I discovered that being a loner and having a superiority complex works quite well, as your distorted self image is never challenged by engaging in any way with the rest of humanity”
Edge – ” I once said to Bob Dylan, “people are going to be playing your songs for thousands of years.” He said, “Man they’re going to be listening to your songs too. It’s just no one’s going to know how to play them.” Sometimes, I might add, that includes us.”
Bono – ” One of my definitions of art is the discovery of beauty in unexpected places.”

In the meantime I’ve still been plodding through “A fiction of the past, the 60s in American History.” I got through the music in culture section and it made me want to read more about bands from that time…so I have bob dylan’s autobio on the pile to read, and i borrowed “the doors by the doors” from a friend at work. it was pretty interesting as i really knew nothing about the history of the doors or jim morrison. it was just like the u2 book, exerpts from jim morrison interviews, and seemingly new interviews with the other band members specifically for the book, plus tons of photos.

I read “A Canticle for Lebowitz” a post apocolyptic book my mom gave me when she finished it, which was pretty good but not mind blowing or anything.

And now I’m reading “Take A Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends and Curses” by R Gary Patterson. I’ve heard him on Coast to Coast AM a few times and he is full of interesting stories of rock bands (mostly brit invasion 60s/70s era), so I picked up this book. Well…the stories are interesting, but boy does it need another edit. Things just seem very out of order. You read one paragraph and then he switches subjects to something that seems very irrelevant, but then pages later there will be a random sentence that really REALLY should have gone with the paragraph ages earlier. It also seems that sometimes he is grasping at straws to make a connection between artists, or themes or events. Like The Buddy Holly Curse…just because someone dies in the same month, years later, doesn’t mean anything. It’s a 1 in 12 chance haha. In a chapter about Alestair Crowley he mentions Daryl Hall (from Hall and Oats? I dunno…) and the things he has said about studying Crowley…and at the end follows up with “Ironically, Hall’s birthday is October 11th, Crowley’s is October 12th”….like that has any relevance at all. He also over uses the word “ironic” and may be misusing it as well (or maybe I’m just missing the irony). There have also been a few things mentioned that relate to The Tea Party…lyrics to a Robert Johnson blues song that are also in Sun Going Down, and a reference to the book Master and Marguerita. So…it’s amusing but could have been put together better, and it really doesn’t need so many “ironic” grasps at straws to connect things. These stories are interesting on their own.

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books

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nerd post.

i read the sequel to Wicked, Son of a Witch, finished a week or so ago. It was slow to start, but got much better, and left tons of things open for another installment of the story. so so much that can be built off of for future novels. if you read Wicked and liked it, i recommend it, but you need not have read Wicked to understand whats going on, it just might not seem as good.

i followed that up with Dangerous Minds. i had watched the movie on tv while sewing, and tho the movie is crap i still liked it and i still wanted to cry at the end. and “gangstas paradise” is still a really great rap song. even though i’m not a teacher the book is ridiculously inspiring. it really makes you want to go out and change the world and reach your students and save them from whatever their disadvantage might be. of course, the book has 20 chapters or so, and i’m sure in 4 years of teaching in that program she had many many more failures or times when she didn’t reach a certain kid. but anyway. that’s the pessimist in me.

i’m currently reading U2 Popaganda, a collection of U2 quotes. it makes me love them again. i keep a journal next to my bed, it is not a diary, but a place where i write down quotes i like from books i’m reading, and the occasional drawing of something i want to paint but never will hahah. it’s tough to read popaganda because every other page i’m writing something down in the journal. once i’m finished there will be a nice long amusing post of u2 quotes. i also finally got u2 by u2, but it’s a gigantic hardcover book and it will be tough to read in bed ha.

that reminds me, popmart was released on dvd. target didn’t have the special edition so i’ll have to venture out tomorrow and get it from best buy. i still somehow managed to spend $35 at target 😛

and cake mania 2 was released, so that’s what i’ll be wasting my time with for the next few days ha *dork*

i also want to go to see lewis black at shea’s if anyone is interested. oct 25th or something. $30. and i feel like i should go see gwar, coming in november to town ballroom, just to see the spectacle. to copy eric. ha. they are coming with HORSE the band, and i’m not sure i could manage seeing them again haha

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i spent 6.5 hrs at the terminal with the wedding party as they decorated. they had a big ole group of people working – including cleaning our marble and kiosks – and it still was that long. gotta hand it to them though, they came prepared, rented a fork lift and everything. i was impressed. glad i brought my mp3 player though as they blasted christian music a lot of the time, and had a 15 minute prayer circle…i forgot about the piercing, and jamming an earbud into it wasn’t very happy. tho it still seems to be healing very nicely.

while there and bored i took tshirt inventory and yeah, we are SO not ordering as many shirts of the new design. we have so many beige shirts still it’s ridiculous.

i also finished reading The Road. I can’t remember if this the book Carolyn recommended, or I saw it on the Daily Show, or what but my mom saw it on Oprah and bought it for me for my birthday (and so she can read it) without knowing it was on my wishlist. Pretty easy read, took about a week and I only read for about a half hour a night. Mixed feelings. It was sort of boring but somehow at the same time suspenseful and you want to know what happens next. I’m not quite sure how one accomplishes that haha. It sort of reminded me of the Dark Tower series – mostly Roland on the beach with the lobster things that bit off his fingers (i forget which book that was, drawing of the three?), and the Wastelands. I didn’t like the end much, I totally did not understand the last paragraph, and it irritates me that they don’t explain why the entire earth was burned….was it a nuclear war, or god’s wrath, or a meteor? that bugs me. I liked it, it just wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

it poured all day, i was exhausted after being up early to go to the terminal so i just went to see my parents for 4th of july. fell asleep at their house so i went home. ended up messing around on facebook and coming across old neighbors and exs. it is quite alot easier to use than myspace but i don’t like that you can’t look at people’s profiles if they’re not a friend or are in a different network. decided to be productive after that and got the new webstore application for the terminal up and running. and not looking like complete shit. why do these aps always give you the ugliest templates? anyway…that’s done. tomorrow is scanning photos to blow up for the CTRC 10th anniversary party, and the meeting with a developer at the Statler. and mailing a bunch of stuff.

my laptop won’t last on battery for more than a half hour. it’s pissing me off. anyone know of cheap toshiba laptop batteries so i can try replacing it? or any other suggestions. a half hour life is pretty ridiculous.

oh and finally a legitimate reason to use my steven colbert wrapped in a flag icon heheheheh

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not crying for benoit

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i am not or ever was a wrestling fan. i’ve seen it a few times, and i know some names but…that’s it. and everyone is sad and mourning chris benoit’s death…um…he strangled his wife and smothered his son. then hung himself. i’m sorry, that doesn’t bring about any feelings of sadness for me, even if i was a fan.

and speaking of death! i finished reading american psycho. and i think i missed something. maybe it was in the paragraphs i’d skip because they were entirely about what people were wearing. but i just don’t “get it”. wtf was the point of the whole book? i kept thinking that there’d be some sort of climax, and for a bit at the end i was expecting a “fight club” type revelation but it didn’t come. the closest it came was “bateman” confronting his shrink about the answering machine message…and then that was just confusing. so maybe someone else can explain to me why it’s such a great book, and wtf happens in it. haha. i really have no interest in reading it again. it was too long and a bit tedious.

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books

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did a factory burn down around here tonight? god the air smells wretched…and not in the falls, but here around my house.

i finished reading memoirs of a geisha. it was cute. it’s a nice cute little story. the way it’s set up, i had no idea that it was fiction. they really make it seem as if it’s a true story of a real life geisha. that newspaper article stuck into the book was about a former geisha who claims the story is her life, which she had told to the author when he was researching the book, but her name is not used. who knows. but it was cute.

now i’m reading american psycho. and dear god it’s making me want to go psycho and bash in the heads of every single yuppie fucker main character. so far it’s been nothing but descriptions of the clothes they are wearing, and the stuff they own, blahblahblah. when does the killing start? lol. but god, they’re annoying.

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sick

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i’ve felt like wicked crap all week. waking up with headaches, being unable to get a good sleep, feeling puke-y. just generally unwell, for no apparent reason. then i realized that i felt sick like this at the beginning of last summer too. how did i figure it out? the fact that i have an apple in my fridge from last june. when i feel this way all i want to eat is fruit – and i don’t crave fruit normally. but the apple reminded me that i felt like shit in june last year too haha. it’s still green, and not mushy…wtf radioactive apples!

i’m reading memoirs of a geisha, and it’s a used copy. reading last night a newspaper article fell out of the book. from the ny times, 2001, it’s an article about the woman who’s life the book is loosely based on, and her lawsuit against the author. on the other side of the article, a picture of bono and edge hahahahah. it was about u2’s elevation show at madison square garden. i found that sort of amusing.

the car is back…maybe…it’s not outside my house my parents must have taken it back to theirs. need it, need desperately to go to the store. need fruit! cuz i’m so not eating that apple.

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rant

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when are paris hilton, lindsay lohan, and nicole ritchie going to finally go away?

book review:

i finished reading chuck palahniuk’s latest novel “Rant”. i think the tag line is, the oral history of buster “rant” casey. something like that. overall, his best recent work. at the end, i didn’t feel cheated. while it does have some of the “chucky p staples” of story line – self destruction – it is not the main theme of the book and it is different than his other books. the writing style reminded me of “invisible monsters” mostly because the story is told in fragments and jumps around. at the same time it’s very different as there are not really flashbacks as in IM. the story is told through “interviews” with various characters which build the whole story. sometimes you feel quite lost, as it’s sometimes confusing and hard to remember who is talking and what they’re referring to. but in the end it all makes sense, and it does have an unexpected twist. i don’t think it’s a “mind fuck” moment like in IM or “survivor” or even “fight club” if you haven’t seen the movie, but it was still not where i thought things were going. the book jacket summary of the book makes it out to be very different than what it actually is. without ruining anything, the description makes it seem like it’s the story of the worlds most prolific serial killer and well…we’re not really talking about ted bundy, or jeffrey dahmer or anyone like that. toward the end it also is very reminiscent of the world of year zero…not quite as extreme, but hints of government conspiracy etc. so while i wouldn’t name this my favourite, that title still belongs to “invisible monsters”, i’d say it could possibly be 4th…DEFINITELY better than haunted. so for anyone who gave up on CP because of haunted, i’d suggest reading this one. it’s pretty decent.

i’m now reading “memoirs of a geisha”. it was one of the books i got when i went mooch crazy on bookmooch.com

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watching an episode of Growing Pains, and it features Brad Pitt as a rockstar. The premise is the young son really loves this rock star, gets to meet him and gets an autograph, but then later accidentally walks in on Brad making out with a groupie and not his wife, and the kid’s image of him is all down the drain. that’s one of the reasons i don’t want to meet trent. (i forgot i had written this last night haha)

one of the senators arguing crap about the iraq war and the new non binding resolutions compared support, or lack of, to what would have happened at the alamo if congress had called davy crocket and told him that the govt supported him but wouldn’t send any troops…wait a sec. wasn’t the alamo a total loss? *wiki* “ended on Sunday, March 6 with the capture of the mission and the death of nearly all the Texian defenders” right. thought so.

hockey game tonight. win in overtime. though not without 2 more injuries – max broke his wrist, and novotny spraining his ankle. i had this giant guy sitting next to me. he wasn’t enormously fat, but just…large. really tall, with huge legs that he insisted on spreading apart as much as possible. ok i’m a small person, i take up about half the room as normal people, but that does not mean you can spread all your shit out all over me. at times when i stood up, my seat didn’t flip up because his huge leg was half on it and holding it down. ug. so obnoxious. if he stood up, his ass was right in my face, so i’d stand up too. then his elbow was face level and i thought he was going to take an eye out. arg. thankfully he doesn’t have those seats as seasons so i won’t have to deal with that again.

so…i’m gonna be honest. i’m working myself into an eating disorder sort of. before anyone clicks “comment” and tells me i’m not fat, I know that!!!!!!! LOL i’m not fat in any sense of the word. but even if no one believes me, i did gain 20 lbs last year, and when you think about it, 20lbs of beef is alot of flesh. i don’t care if you can’t tell, *i* can tell, i can feel it in my legs and stomach. and i can tell because clothes i bought in the summer don’t fit – including my 2 awesome dresses. there’s no hope the fishnet dress will fit now, it barely fit in april haha. shirts that used to fit now cut off the circulation to my arms. and i think, i need to lose these 20 lbs so i can fit into my clothes again. alright, so i’ll eat better, more protein, less carbs. except i’m a carb addict. do they have rehab for that? that’s all i want to eat. all i want right now is a huge bowl of mashed potatos. so then i think, alright if i want to eat the crappy food that i eat, i need to start exercising. but then that lasts a day. it’s too hard. i can see why some are attracted to anorexia – it’s so much easier!!!! but then there’s the other problem…i can’t not eat. it makes me sick. it gives me wicked headaches, and i just get so hungry i have to eat. so scratch that. and i can’t make myself throw up, so there goes bulemia. so i’m stuck eating crappy carb loaded food, not exercising, and gaining 20 lbs. so don’t comment that i’m not fat because i know that i’m not, and don’t comment that eating disorders are dangerous, because i don’t have one. i am just obsessing over the fact that my clothes don’t fit anymore. i figure with the activity of the vacation and travel times being weird etc i’ll lose some weight over seas. maybe when i get back i’ll actually try the exercising thing haha. actually. would anyone be interesting in rock climbing at the rock gym with me? it’s been…god 12 years since i’ve done it, but it was fun, and probably good exercise.

“i see you’re drinking 2%, is that cuz you think you’re fat?” hahahahha

saw the cutest bathing suit at zumiez yesterday, if i 1. had boobs 2. ever went swimming or 3. even ever went outside when it was warm. hahah.

books
i finished Wicked last week. i enjoyed it. it was very very different from what i expected, very politcal and shows a side of oz that is completely different from what you see in The Wizard of Oz movie. if you read it, pay attention to characters, they keep popping up. in discussing this with molino we feel confused about it – there are alot of loose ends and things that aren’t explained to my satisfaction. i suggest it though. and it probably helps if you want to see the musical.

i finished A Death in Belmont today. it’s a true crime book about the Boston Strangler. but it doesn’t just go through the killings, the author who also wrote A Perfect Storm, tells the true story of his family’s brush with the Strangler – he worked construction on their house during the same time period. Very interesting, very quick read. i also recommend it. especially if you like serial killers like me haha.

now i am going to start another serial killer book cuz i’m a freak – Green River Running Red – about the Green River killer. hehe excited! now if only someone would buy the zodiac books i want, or offer them on bookmooch i’d be all set. i’ve wanted these books for years now.

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apparently adr was on tv during the sabres game again. while she was home she left a pillow for jim lorentz at the arena, and they talked about it tonight. of course, i didn’t see it again, hopefully someone gets it on youtube. she’s uber famous now hehe.

i finished reading Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. it got more interesting when there was a sort of plot – like when Kesey was on the lam in mexico. and in the end i think yeah, it’d be pretty great to have lived then and experienced that whole era. i probably would have been a hippie… or prankster wannabe or an acid head. but i don’t identify with it at all and i don’t understand why the book was ever banned.

now onto the book about the Freemasons. though it may have made more sense to start the book on the 60s Fiction of the Past.

lj had a spotlight on the 50booksayear community, whatever it really is called, and i’d like to try that. only with the way i read, typically before bed, i’ll never get through 50.

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