New books

Hello blog, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Last week I went shopping in Uptown to a nice big fancy book store, Magers & Quinn. M&Q is a place where I can easily spend hours, just browsing and reading and touching the books. It's a perfect shop. 

To be honest, I was on a mission to buy Christmas presents, and I wasn't trying to spend money on myself. I lasted through several other shops and spent far too much on a mediocre Vietnamese dinner, but when I got to M&Q I decided to spend a bit... just a bit... on myself.

First up...

Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sandition by Jane Austen.

I haven't read any of these! Can you believe it? I also haven't read Northanger Abbey, but that's perhaps beside the point...

...now it's in the "to read" stack.

Second...

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

My third copy. It's a beautiful Penguin Hardcover edition. It's so beautiful on its own that I almost wish it didn't have all the introductory pages with annotations and commentary... scratch that, I definitely wish it didn't have all that stuff. I wish it was just Pride and Prejudice, all on its own on those smooth, perfect pages, with the crisp spine and sweet little ribbon. I love this copy so much. It's gorgeous. It's my favorite book and it's glorious.

Casual Vacancy Sex

It's... a good book, but it's definitely a bit odd. You can hear J.K. Rowling's tone as you knew it in the Harry Potter books, but she's talking about child abuse and masturbation and drug use.

So that's kind of weird.

Bookshop picks

Today I had a bit of time coming home from errands, and so I stopped at my local Barnes & Noble.

Some good things on offer:

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman

Oh my god, Philip Pullman put together a collection of fairy tales! And they have little annotative notes and historical info from him following each story! Philip Pullman is magic. AND this beautiful copy has deckled edges!

Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene

A book about moral philosophy & ethics. Stuff I love to think about, even if I sort of hate arguing about it. Once I was driving around in a car with someone, and we were pretending that we were in a spaceship, and I made a choice in my fictional role that started a huge argument about moral philosophy. We started fighting in character, but it quickly became evident that we were really fighting about our beliefs. At the end of the drive we stopped the "game", but it was clear that we were both pissed.

To The Letter by Simon Garfield

To be honest I'm not that keen on "History of (random thing)" books. They're interesting to read once, but I generally don't buy anything that I think (or know) I'm only going to read once. So maybe when this hits the library, it looked really interesting.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

If you haven't read Allie's blog by the same name, stop reading my blog and get over there. Read the entire thing. Twice. Allie Brosh is a genius storyteller and has written some of the funniest, truest stuff on the internet. I almost bought this book, but I didn't. I almost flipped through and read the new, never-before-published stories, but I didn't.

This is a book to be savored. To be read on a day off of work with no chores, no homework, nothing but you and a warm blanket and lots of laughing. I won't buy this book until I know I have the chance to really delight in it all by itself.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

There used to be a great paperback (or was it hardback?) green edition of this that was billed as a 5-part trilogy anthology. THis is part of the "Build yourself a classical library" series that Barnes & Noble is doing. It's a nice edition, but I'm not sure it's appropriate. I would prefer the older design. The thing with these classical copies is that they look like they would hold up to abuse pretty well.

If your copy of Hitchhiker's Guide isn't totally tatty, then what are you doing? Are you even reading it?

Here's the "classic" table that I was talking about. Some of the stuff is what you'd expect; Gray's Anatomy, The Bible, TKAM. Some of it is expected but sort of annoying: I don't want all of Jane Austen's books parked together in one volume. Ditto the Brontes.

They're all hardback, with gilded page edges and marbled endpapers. It's all very fancy. And it suits even a modern book like Wicked, but I had to laugh at the doubled-up Jurassic Park and The Lost World. 

Not that they're not good books, but I love my little paperback that I can shove in my pocket for anytime, anywhere dinosaur action. Why have a shelf copy? It's just not a book that you take off the shelf and sit down in your armchair and read.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

When I picked this up, I was wondering if it was going to be more philosophy about the Hedgehog's Dilemma, but actually, it's a novel about a bunch of zany people who live in a French hotel.

I'd read that, for sure.

 The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen  by Lindsay Ashford

As I may or may not have mentioned here, I'm pretty much done with alternative Jane Austen books, and I certainly won't be buying any without reading them first because the market is flooded with so much nonsense. This looked pretty good as I thumbed through it, but I'll wait for the library copy.




And speaking of the library... I stopped there on the way home and came up with J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy which has been on my list for quite some time.

Like, Uh, Whatever. Yeah.

Let me first say that I don't understand Twitter at all. I mean, AT ALL. I had a twitter at one point. I tried following people, and making tweets. It just didn't make any sense to me. Sure, sometimes Mindy Kaling or somebody writes a hilarious one-liner. But the rest of it was just this garbled mash of conversations and retweets and other stuff that didn't make any sense or have any real context. I don't see how twitter works or provides any value inside its own system. The only time I ever see tweets as being interesting is when they are taken outside of a twitter feed, and given their own stand-alone place...

This is just the lead-in to the fact that I'm about to link to a buzzfeed article that is all about tweets. Maybe you've seen it already: This Guy's Live-Tweets of his Neighbor's Breakup Are Hilarious And Heartbreaking. This is twitter tweeting a narrative, which is interesting to me on two levels. At first, it's a new form of communication and storytelling, this "live tweeting". He assigns roles to each character, decides which sentences and actions to include to tell the story:

Lights another cig. -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

He even includes himself, the narrator, and his vote for the girl in this situation:

This guy is four cigs deep right now. #roofbreakup #teamrachel
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

So there is that.

The second part that I found interesting was the words that the couple were using, the way that their argument progressed. We just have to trust Ayers as a faithful reporter of what was actually said, but I think, sadly, that at this point in our digital communication we are all guilty of the following garbage:

"Yeah but what is, like, living together? Like what's an apartment mean? You know what I'm saying?" -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

"Look I'm not a guy who's into labels, Rachel. You knew that getting in." -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

And the very end of their fight...

"So what does this mean?" -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

"It means fucking whatever fuck I'm tired." -girl #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013

Ambiguity. The crime of ambiguity. We can text "yeah, yeah" and "whatever" until our thumbs bleed, because it makes us seem involved while we're really just too tired or scared or lost to actually commit to something. And I don't mean committing to another person or an apartment (Oh, Guy, seriously, what is your damage?) but committing to an idea, to a belief. Hold yourself to a standard. Stand up and be decisive, even in small things. Have an opinion. Decide what you want and stick to it. The guy refuses to commit to labels and to address Rachel's wants when it's somehow inconvenient for him, and then turns around and demands that she spell out where their relationship is now that he's refused to give her any clarity. She responds with "fucking whatever", which is a huge, lazy, defeated brush-off. Neither one will just say clearly. Do they not know what they want? Do any of us?

We have all these words. Why don't we use them? Why doesn't he say "I don't want to move in with you, I'm sorry." And then, she could say "Well that makes me feel ____". And maybe they would still break up in the end.

This happens a lot when we text. I find myself saying "ha", or "yeah, yeah" which could be a brush off, a tease, a dismissal, or just plain laziness. I used to know someone who said "indeed" on AOL IM back in the day. He said it so often that I started to suspect that he wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying (he wasn't) and worse, "indeed" is so patronizing (and that was sort of true, too).


My thoughts aren't complete on their whole exchange. Maybe it's because I'm a girl that I struggle when I see conversations play out like this. It's part of the vocabulary of growing up, and trying to figure out what people are really saying to you. Remember when we were younger, and we had a crush on someone, and we'd dissect their every word?

"He said "Hey" to you?"
"Oh my god, was it a "Hey", or was it more like "Hey"?"

Or worse, someone would say an actual sentence to us, and we'd have a bunch of grammar to dissect and pick over as well.

What is this? When we're young, we dig for meaning where there isn't any. Then, when we're older, we refuse to make the effort of giving meaning to our words when it's really, really necessary. Did we get lazy? Is it all this texting and tweeting? Or are we just training ourselves to be less precise over time? We don't have to marry in order to secure our fortunes anymore, so we can fall back on any old thing: any new job, any new person, any new life. We don't have to take a stance.

Are we getting pizza? (I'm scared to eat alone or be alone and I am uncomfortable and need to change the topic).

Seriously? (I refuse to admit that you might have a point because it offends me, so I demand that you justify it. Alternatively, you have just made an outrageously offensive and/or broad statement that is overgeneralizing or avoiding the issue at hand. Probably because you're a huge jerk/bitch).



I was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix today, and there was the point where Harry decides not to tell Ron and Hermione that Umbridge is basically torturing him with the weird pen. Then, about a chapter later, he changes his mind and decides to be open with Ron after Ron is open with him. I thought "Way to go, dude!"

It's a hugely frustrating plot point when people keep things from one another for no reason at all. In The Eye of the World the main character, whatever the hell his name was, decides not to tell his crazy creepy dreams to the one person he knows could help him, all because he has some stubborn prejudice against her. While that keeps with his character, it also makes the reader hate him as a character. I always end up white-knuckling the pages, screaming "Just tell her about the devil trying to kill you, you stupid moron!"

She, meanwhile, fully suspects/knows what's up.


It even frustrates me a bit in Austen, when the whole plot hingers on the fact that people are too delicate to mention something ("Hey, sister, why are you crying to the point that you are probably going to get sick and die? Oh, I can't mention anything. Damn. Welp, what kind of flowers would you like at your funeral?") that would basically resolve the whole thing in 5 minutes. Remember Pride and Prejudice? Everyone is waiting for Bingley to propose to Jane, including Elizabeth, yet Elizabeth won't leave them alone in the room and has to be basically tricked into allowing private, honest communication between the pair of them.


So, what's this all about?

Communication, what has happened to it?

Why did society insist upon ambiguity? Why, when we share all our lives so openly on Facebook, are we so incapable of really sharing what we really think? Was "Guy" saying those things because his true thoughts would hurt Rachel? Or was he just floating along without any thought at all? Why don't we all demand clarity? Is it because we're afraid that the truth will hurt us? (Probably, it will). And really, who would even make a quill pen that could write into someone's flesh? What is the point of that?

Other than to remind us not to tell lies?

John Lennon, you get it

Today while cleaning I found an unsent letter from earlier this year, in which I quoted John Lennon:

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. we need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hope or a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.

Often when I find letters that past-me wrote, I turn them out as one might an embarrassing old journal where one simply talks about boys and how sad one is. (How awkward!) To tell the truth though I keep those things, humiliating as they are, for posterity. Even if it's crap, it's my crap, and the least one can do is grow and learn and never be a sad person again.

This letter I found is a good letter, written by a good person. I like who I was in that moment, and the resolve I possessed and the hope I had for the future. I don't want to disappoint past-me when she was so optimistic, so I keep this letter to remind myself to be better, and to live up to my own expectations.

More from Sei Shonagon

I'm sorry. These just make me laugh so much.

I'm not kidding - empress teishi can be a real slave driver. Busting my onigiri if you know what I mean
— Sei Shonagon (@shonagon_sei) October 16, 2013

Silk kimonos, yamato-e paintings, waka poetry... retweet if ur a real #90skid and by that I mean 990s
— Sei Shonagon (@shonagon_sei) October 21, 2013

@yokoono The other ladies in waiting get really annoyed when I do this, so thank you for the suggestion! :D
— Sei Shonagon (@shonagon_sei) November 3, 2013

I used to date someone who had sliding doors in his apartment, and if I ever had to get up in the night to use the toilet (which of course, I ALWAYS did because it was such a hassle) I had to try to open this stupid sliding door as quietly as possible and it would stick on the wood grooves and end up thumping along. I would be standing there in the pitch black, trying to hoist this stupid door so it wouldn't stick, opening the smallest hole possible so I could squeeze through, then trying to shut it quietly so the light from the bathroom wouldn't come through, then repeat it all over again trying to get back into the room.

Why didn't I just sleep on the couch, I will never know.

Meanwhile, all the doors in everyone else's apartments would glide open and close like it was no big deal.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch


I mentioned this in my last post. It took me one week to read the first book, largely because I had school and work and some personal life stuff taking up a great deal of my time.

I finished on Tuesday, and it is now Thursday. I am over halfway through the second book (Red Seas Under Red Skies).

The Lies of Locke Lamora made me laugh. I really really laughed. Lynch's comedic timing is perfect. He could deliver a line that, without the previous paragraph, without the build of the character delivering that line, wouldn't be funny. The line, by itself, could be bitter or desperate (I have one in mind in particular, spoken by someone facing very probable death, or at least a whole pile of serious trouble) but in the context and where it landed on the page, was incredibly funny.

Funny, without losing any of that bitterness or desperation.

The characters are cavalier without being flippant or irresponsible. It's a trope that swashbuckling lower-class heroes have some sort of genius capability, that they are omni-competent or that their stoic bravado must be broken down over the course of the novel. Usually by a caring woman.

Lynch's characters are human, so very human. Of course they have strengths. Of course they are swaggering and capable and talented. But I started losing count how many times the main character cries, or vomits, or succumbs to physical weakness, or in some way exhibits a real human reaction to the violence around him. You love him for it. And the moments where he does hang on, and does exert himself beyond his character mean all the more for it.



Cheers, I've got 20 minutes to make a sandwich and read what I can before work.

Books vs Food

Recently I've been having some stomach problems. In order to avoid pain and manage my symptoms, I've been pretty careful about what I eat, when I eat, and how much I eat. With funny work and school schedules, it can be a lot of trouble to make sure that I'm eating at the right times, not too much, not leaving myself hungry, not setting myself up for trouble.

Which brings me to yesterday.

I was catching up on some blogs, including Pat Rothfuss's. He was talking about some cool swag other authors had donated to his (charity) shop, and linked to a review he had written on Goodreads of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora.

I read the review. I considered my reading stack (currently containing: Shantaram, Gone With the Wind, The Shadow in the North), and hopped over to my library's website to see if they had a copy in the stacks.

They did.

I looked at the clock. I had 45 minutes to make the trip. Usually I give myself an hour, as the drive can take 30-40 minutes, and it's nice not to have to rush.

The library out of the way of my route, adding at least 10 minutes to the trip. It is also next to a fancy-pants grocery store that carries a sushi I really like. Bam. Dinner problem solved.

I hauled ass to the library.

The grocery lot was packed. They had a policewoman directing traffic, as parents herded their costumed children in as part of some sort of pre-Halloween hooplah. On a Tuesday afternoon! For heaven's sake.

Gentle readers, I was faced with a choice. I could eat, or I could read.

Gentle readers, this is one of those books. It's a book I wish I was reading right now instead of eating dinner or blogging or doing homework or making my Halloween costume. It's funny. It's snappy. It's got mystery and thieves and a Venice-like city fully of plague and temples and trouble. 

Read. This. Book.

Some small things

Hello again It's been a while...


My life offline has been interesting, to say the least.

 Some small things are all I have today.

 
I picked up The Shadow in the North and The Tiger in the Well, books 2 & 3 of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart trilogy. Tiger in the Well is my favorite of the three, but always I love plucky turn-of-the-century heroines. (Hello, Betsey Tacey and Tibb!)



I picked up running again. It's difficult because I took so long off, but the Turkey Day 5K is coming up (on Thanksgiving). I want to do better than I did before, so a 28 minute race is my goal. But I'll be happy with 29 minutes of course.

A little more from Sei Shonagon...

Having to go to the bathroom at night in the imperial palace is such bullshit

— Sei Shonagon (@shonagon_sei) August 18, 2013

Hahahahahaha I like to touch base with Sei as I continue to read The Pillow Book

Book Haul, Early September

I had a book come into the library reserve today, so I just had to stop by...

Worst photo ever!

This photo comes on the heels of trying to visit the St. Paul library, and getting totally lost, and driving around in circles (squares) around downtown, with google maps being totally unhelpful, eventually giving up and going to a library in the suburbs. Big fail! City driving makes me really anxious and unhappy though, so this was pretty much par for the course. If I had my way, I would have stopped and parked somewhere far away, like up on the hill, and walked down into the city.

If I ever have a full free day, I'd like to do that.

Anyway, today I got...


Bossypants by Tina Fey

SO EXCITED to read this book finally! I tried to get it for ages, but it was always out and I kept getting screwed on the request system. Placing a book on hold at my library is SNEAKY because they always have an expiration date on the hold, and if you don't remember to bump the date forward you can lose out on a hold. ALSO, they never call you or notify you by email or ANYTHING when your hold comes in! So if you forget about it, or it takes ages for your number to come up in the queue, you are SCREWED. Your hold will expire and you will not get your book and you will be SAD.

Well, imagine my happiness to spot this book on the Staff Recommends shelf. I took big power strides over to the display and grabbed the book. Haha! Victory is mine!


Why We Buy by Paco Underhill

I need to read this for a school project, and I placed it on hold last night, and I knew that there was one in the library (I just wanted to claim it!) so I KNEW it would be on the hold shelf today.

It seems interesting... why we buy what we buy is something I think about a lot, as well as what sort of triggers are in place during shopping experiences.


My Cooking Class CHOCOLATE BASICS by Orathay Guillaumont, Vania Nikolcic, and Pierre Javelle

This book is heavenly. 90% beautiful photos, 10% simple text about how to make amazing chocolate sweets.

I need to own this book. No question. Good thing I accidentally forgot to cancel my trial month of Amazon Prime (seriously, I don't want Amazon Prime, but now I've paid for it, so I'm going to use that sucker for all the free shipping and streaming Downton Abbey that it's worth. Written in my August 2014 planner it says "CANCEL AMAZON PRIME!").
The stinky thing is, the item I really really crave (chestnut jam -- impossible to find in stores) is not under Prime. WHAT IS THE POINT, I ASK YOU.


Sense & Sensibility (1995)

Emma Thompson! Alan Rickman! Kate Winslet! Hugh Grant!!

I know what I'm doing tonight!!

Austenland

Ahh, Jane Austen. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Ignore the copy of Jane Eyre. 

This past week, I went to see the movie "Austenland", starring Keri Russell. I was the only person in the theater, probably because it was a Wednesday night, I had to go to a rather overpriced hipster theater to see it, and it has gotten terrible reviews.

Well sue me, I liked it.

Basically, you have to be a fan of Austen. And you probably have to be a girl/woman. And you must be a little forgiving of the whole thing. Oh, and having an inherent fondness for Brett McKenzie definitely helps.

As you might suspect, I really love Jane Austen. I often repeat that I went through a period of about a year where I read Pride & Prejudice over and over... at least once a month. I'd read it on my lunch break, at my desk, and when I finished I would wait a day or so and start over again. It never ever gets old. My favorite thing about Jane Austen is that you can read her works in many different lights. You can take a moral lesson from Sense & Sensibility  about correct actions and not getting carried away by emotions, you can examine social norms & levels in Emma  and Mansfield Park, you can learn about knowing yourself in Emma and Pride & Prejudice. Or you can laugh at all of them. Or you can just fall into the world of balls and muslin.

OR, if you're in a particular mood, you can just settle back and enjoy the inevitable love story.

To enjoy "Austenland", you just had to let go a little bit. Keri Russell is instantly lovable in any movie. There were lovely costumes. The whole plot and Austenland itself was really silly and not quite believable, but it wasn't supposed to be. You were just supposed to relax and suspend a little disbelief.


I'm 3/4 of the way through The Friendly Jane Austen and it is ACE! So, so interesting and informative. It's got lots of interviews with professors, writers, actors, and critics concerning different aspects of the novels and the themes therein. I'm super excited to revisit all of her novels once I'm done with this book. HIGHLY recommended for any Jane Austen fan. 

Factory Girls

This morning I finished reading Factory Girls. This is strange for me because in recent years, I either haven't had enough time to really devote myself to a book, or I have had too many books going at once for any of them to finish in a timely fashion. Factory Girls just pulled me in, though, and I couldn't put it down.

Chang focuses less on the work done in the factory itself, and more on the conditions and choices present in the girls' lives, and how they react and adapt to those challenges. It's difficult to sum up because I've never encountered anything like this before.

They grab life by the neck, and eat their bitterness.

Any woman in any job should read this book.

Book Haul, End of August

I had a free day from work, it was terribly hot outside, and The Bean had several overdue books. (and so did I, actually) So we loaded up our bags and went out to the local library!

My picks for this round:

The sun is down, so please excuse my indoor lighting and weird carpet

The Truth of All Things by Kieran Shields

I picked this up COMPLETELY randomly from the shelf in the mystery section. It's about murder and witches, from what the inside flap says. I try not to read the inside flaps or the back covers too closely, as they are sometimes written by people who haven't properly read the book, or who don't understand the concept of SPOILERS.

The Gluten-free Table by Jilly Lagasse and Jessie Lagasse Swanson, and

The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal

More and more these days, people are talking about giving up various things, either because of allergies or just for the general improvement of their feelings & health.

I am not one of those people. I believe in eggs and butter and creamy cheeses. I'm not sure where I fall on gluten, but as it has yet to make me sick, I haven't given it up. However. I know a lot of people who are limited in their diets, for whatever reason.

Recently I was having tea & juice with my extremely celiac friend Lovely Alice, who told me that she had finally given up on settling for the limited options she had out in the world of pre-made food, and instead had learned how to cook. She showed me her lunch, in a little box in her bag. It looked incredibly delicious, and more importantly, wasn't going to kill her. 

Later, I chatted with another friend about starting an allergen / vegan friendly bakery. She told me to bake something 1000 times until I had it perfect in my own way. This is, of course, good advice for any undertaking, but even better when you get to eat your results.

At any rate, it's time to learn a few new skills in the kitchen...

Women's Wicked Wit by Michelle Lovric 

Anthologies are fun, snarky anthologies are the best!

The Friendly Jane Austen by Natalie Tyler

This is a lovely book that reads somewhere between an older encyclopedia, a chatty magazine article, and the back of a Penguin edition novel. It explains in both concise sections and longer essays the various aspects and meanings behind Jane Austen's life & works. 

Borkmann's Point by Håkan Nesser

I wrote a while ago about Jo Nesbø's The Leopard and The Snowman as being creepy Scandinavian murder mysteries. Here comes a story from Sweden. I think I may have found my new favorite genre. 

I started reading Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang so quickly that it wasn't in my book bag when I went to take the initial haul photo. Chang tracks the stories of several factory girls in China. It's something I know nothing about, and it's fascinating. 

Ruminations & Mission Statement

Recently I was asked about how to generate ideas for a blog. If you've been following along for the past few months, you might ask yourself why I would be asked such a question. Well, I was available at the time and purported to have some experience in the subject.

The truth is, I have only read a wee bit on blogging, and mainly suggested that my friend go and read the same. I read a LOT of blogs and can extrapolate from the content generated therein, but as a blogger myself, my only experience has been personal anecdotes & diary-style updates on DiaryLand, LiveJournal, and several now-defunct Blogger & Wordpress blogs.

When I started up this blog, about a month or so into writing it, I reached out to some of my fellow Library Science students, and asked them what sort of things they would like to see in a librarian (in-training) blog. Uniformly, the answer was articles about issues & trends in the library world. When I read that, I groaned a wee bit. Not that those topics aren't interesting... THEY ARE. There are several great blogs (Hack Library School leaps to mind) that cover these topics, and because they are written by students or newcomers to the field, they are fresh and at times above and beyond what the American Library Association or the Library Journal might cover in terms of honesty and applicable-to-YOU material.

Briefly, I didn't feel competent in those areas, nor did I feel that there would be any point in competing with such material. Hence my groan.


However, in talking with my friend about his blog, I thought more about what I was writing, and why I was writing it. Why, I thought, should I ignore those topics, just because I don't feel qualified to write about them? I'm a student, aren't I? Why should I turn away from something just because it's difficult or unnatural to me? The sort of silly nature of my writing shouldn't exclude thoughts on more serious subjects, nor should serious subjects prevent me from talking about BARF (har har har) or zombies. Just because this is a personal blog as opposed to a professional one doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be BOTH.


That said, I have been giving a lot of thought as to what this blog IS and what I want it to be. Giving room for a certain amount of growth and change, at the onset (that is, NOW), I would like to offer the following topics as the things I care about in writing:

1. Library Science, or Being An MLIS Student

What it is: Issues in librarianship that interest/provoke me, issues faced through schooling, reading, and classes, any struggles or realizations along the path of getting my degree and becoming a real life library lady, comments from a library user vs. librarian

What it isn't: Bitching about coursework & professors, uninformed inflammatory ranting.


2. Books

What it is: Book reviews, hauls from the library / bookstore, BARF, personal library thoughts, occasional silliness & honest opinions. Occasional movie, theater, or music comments as necessary.

What it isn't: Again, inflammatory ranting, personal attacks, unbiased. (I want to offer my personal preferences opinions, including criticism)


3. My Life

What it is: Travel, hobbies (anything that is taking up a good chunk of my brain & time, such as running, language learning, knitting) and anything that comes up through BARF or applying a book to real life.

What it isn't: Gossip, my day job, family. Anything in my life not explicitly covered above.



Is that the sort of thing you want to read?

Book Haul, Japan 2013

Every year I take a trip to Japan in August, to see the sights, eat the food, visit friends, and join in a crazy dance festival. I say "every year" though this is only my second year back, but it's my sixth time to join the dancing, so I figure I can count it as a sort of tradition-in-the-making.

At any rate, the eternal question whenever you visit somewhere is what sort of Thank You / Hello / Long-Time-No-See gift to bring along. It is of course rational to bring something small and portable that fits in luggage easily, and also will survive the trials of checked luggage.

This, for example, is a lousy choice for a souvenir. Best drink it up yourself.

"Rational" takes on a different sort of meaning sometimes.

I thought it rational to bring cookies. Big, light, breakable boxes of cookies. It was tough getting them all to fit in my suitcase. I left a lot of clothes behind, and forgot a few essential items because of it.



But do you know what was left when I gave all those cookies away to my dear friends?

Space. Space was left.

Space for BOOKS.



The weight limit for checked luggage on Delta is 23 kilos per bag. I clocked in at 17 and 12 kilos on my bags, but only because I bought a few clothing and snack and souvenir items as well, and didn't have enough space for MORE BOOKS.

A fairly sensible choice, if I do say so myself. 

Also, why are magazines so HEAVY? Is it paper density?

At any rate, after hitting some bookstores, here is what I dragged home:

Summertime means COMICS!! Oh youth!

From left to right, top to bottom;

Sailor Moon 1&2

My friend requested these. I was surprised to only find the first two volumes in the used book store, maybe it's because the show is putting out another season next year? (This year? I forget) It's popular, but not that popular... my high school students had no clue what it was. 

Maison Ikkoku 1&2 

Also from the used book store. As I was shopping, a guy trucked by me with volumes 3-8 in his hands, so I ran to where he had come from to see if he had left anything other than.... volumes 1 & 2. Nope! Oh well. At least they carry them!

Anyway, Rumiko Takahashi is my favorite manga-ka (writer & artist) ever, she has great lines and funny stories and tells a lot visually. I have a whole shelf dedicated just to her works. But these two books are actually going to push it onto two shelves...

Seishun Shonbori Kurabu (Melancholic Sentimentalism of Youth Club)

So in proper bookstores (as opposed to used ones), all the comics are wrapped in plastic so you can't read before (or instead of) buying. This makes it hard for me to buy books because I can't check the content or reading level: if a story is about magical made-up crap, or has too many difficult kanji with no kana (easy characters to tell you the pronunciation of kanji), then it's out of my league. 

But sometimes the staff puts out little sample chapters. It limits my shopping, but it's better than nothing. This is about a high school club that goes around watching (and judging?) other peoples' love lives & relationships. I know, that's super weird, and it doesn't make any sense, but I can really understand the vocabulary in high school life stories more easily than anything else.


Asahi Nagu

It's about a girl who joins her high school's kendo club.
Kendo vocabulary!


Principal

A girl from... Tokyo or something, comes to some high school in a small town and meets a boy who is friendly, and a boy who is a huge jerk (they are of course best friends or cousins or something). GEE I wonder if there will be a love triangle oh gosh I can't wait to find out oh golly oh wow.


Private Prince

A female university student meets a Prince who is studying at her university for some reason. Somehow they meet and form a relationship. But of course it is complicated because he is a prince.


Sora & Hara (side story), Sotsugyousei 2&3 (Graduating Students)

A high school romance story. The story itself is kind of trite and without a lot of depth (REALLY? REALLY? WOW) but I'm pulled in by the art, which is this sort of bendy, slightly disproportionate stuff.

Real books for real people?

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

So this showed up a few days before I left, and I started to give it a read, and it's actually quite good. The Penguin Edition has of course a lot of notes, but also gives maps, and historical figures lists, and illustrations... which is good because I know absolutely nothing about life in Heian Era Japan. 

Some pieces are boring (like lists of trees or lakes, who cares?) but other pieces are really romantic or interesting or just plain fascinating. 

The Hunger Games (Japanese)

One of the presents I bought for someone who hosted me was a copy of The Hunger Games in English. Originally I went into the bookstore looking for Twilight (because sometimes you just need easy vocab in order to get by) but chose this instead (obviously a better choice). I need a dictionary, but I still struggle.

Shikoku Japan 88 Route Guide

I heard later that you could get this at many of the major temples in town, so I could have saved myself the train ride up to Temple #1, but... it's a beautiful temple and I'm glad I went.

This is the English guide to the 88 temple pilgrimage around Shikoku island, which is about 1200 kilometers. It's my dream to someday take the pilgrimage on foot, all at once, in spring. I dream this with a ferocity that makes me hesitant to write too much about it here and now, or perhaps, ever.

Trash or treasure?

Treasure, actually. I love magazines. Especially these fashion magazines, because they don't clutter up with articles, instead, it's just piles upon piles of photos of outfits. My love of Japanese fashion magazines is eclipsed only by my love for interior decorating magazines & books. 

...do I really need to say more about magazines? Lordy, I hope not. 

Oh right, one of them came with a "special gift"

Kate Spade, apparently

I skipped over a lot of magazines because they came with a "special gift", which is usually a bag, and I didn't need another bag, let alone several other bags. But I wanted that particular magazine, so now I have the bag...

...and also this shoulder bag, which I bought before I left, knowing that I was only going to fill it with magazines for the plane ride. 

It's the perfect size, and also made me laugh. Not because it's amusing, but in the way that an uncomfortable truth can make you laugh... just at how the world is sometimes. Japan always makes me feel both extremely comfortable with myself, and very weird & disconnected & fake at the same time. "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" felt like a good reflection of how I was feeling.

So that's the newest stuff on my bookshelf, everybody. Happy summer reading!

A bit of this and that

I had a great idea the other day, about something I had read that really jived with the way I see the world and my place in it, and how I use my thoughts to create happiness/positivity/etc... and then I didn't write it down, and now I can't even remember what book it was that I had been reading. Ah! That sort of thing just happens, doesn't it?

Here I am sat at home, trying to rest while simultaneously doing my chores. Trying not to check the mirror every 10 minutes for signs of impending dry socket (ew, seriously) and also trying not to compulsively tongue holes in my mouth (so tempting!). Come on, little blood clots, work your magic!


I'm getting ready to go to Japan. And by "getting ready", I mean I dragged my box of dancing kit out of my dresser and put it on the bed so I'd remember to go through it later.

Just need my passport and I'm ready to go

I've been debating what to bring with me for reading. Usually I tote my iPad with me, because then I can use it for internet in Starbucks as well as for reading. I've got mostly free books (Austen, etc) on there, as well as The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear because I can read them over and over and never get tired. I'm tempted by Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, which was recently given to me, but it's all about India and I want to keep my head in the game on this vacation. Maybe if I was flying to India, haha. Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld is also in the running, though it's a book on loan and I don't want to muck it up. 

There's always that pile of Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series that's been on my shelf for months. Vanity Fair was bought LAST YEAR and hasn't been touched yet. My new Jane Eyre was only $3 so I don't care what happens to it in the suitcase. I just ordered Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book, which I have been meaning to read since high school, but I don't know if it'll be the kind of entertainment I'll want to read in my spare time & on a plane.

Sei Shonagon was this lady in the Japanese Emperor's (well, the Empress's really) entourage way back when, who kept a diary of all the stuff that went on in the palaces. She wrote lists, observations, and gossip. She was a contemporary of Lady Murasaki, who wrote the first novel (The Tale of Genji) and was apparently snarky, smart, and poetical. Which was basically par for the course for anyone who managed to make it as a woman in those times.

Also, she's on Twitter:

Some guys are talkin sittin next to my cherry blossom vase and one is wearing a cherry blossom cloak haha awesome
— Sei Shonagon (@shonagon_sei) July 20, 2013

Amazing.

Book Haul, End of July

You may be thinking to yourself, "Didn't you just do this? How are you on another haul already?"

The answer is, of course, that last time it was a bunch of regency romances, and those read pretty quick. Also, I haven't been showing you the school library piles that are clogging up my book basket. The real thing of it is, though, I just can't resist books.

Seven books, that seems like a good number.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo.

Jo Nesbo wrote The Snowman, which has a similar cover (black and white and covered in blood). I'm always a little turned off by the utter starkness and total depression that seems through the lines of most Scandinavian novels (and their television dramas, good grief) but I really liked The Snowman because it was scary and only medium-depressing, and it was written in a way that kept me interested and gave appropriate tension to the scary serial killer thing. Also, the mysterious snowmen were creepy as all get-out, and that was really appealing. So I have high hopes for The Leopard.

The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez

It jumped out from the shelf at me because it's oversized, and also graphic. 

Super Spy by Matt Kindt

...who also wrote Revolver, which triggered recognition in me until I later remembered that "Revolver" is the title of a magazine I don't read. Er, what?

It's a comic about spies, lady spies, in WW2. Awww yeah.

Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam

The spine & title appealed to me, so I picked it from the shelf. 

It's about solving a murder, and also, a Pakistani community.

Pirate King by Laurie R King

So... Laurie R King writes my favorite series, the Mary Russell Sherlock Holmes series, and this is the latest (second latest, she actually has two new ones out) one for me. It's the 11th thus far in the series. 

I skipped the last one (God of the Hive) because... well. It wasn't very good. My trusted reader friend advised me against it. She said that God of the Hive felt like a betrayal of the Mary Russell that we loved with every beat of our adventurous hearts. 

The plot summary for Pirate King on the dust jacket sounds silly. Flat out ridiculous. And the first section of the novel is titled "Ship of Fools", which I find to be a gloomy start for a Sherlock Holmes story. I worry that Laurie R King is going to be reduced to throwing plot at the wall to see what sticks. Can an author really be expected to maintain the same glorious level of delicious crime and adventure of feminism across so many years of writing? 

Carl Hiaasen started to nose-dive on his eighth book. So has King, unfortunately. Locked Rooms (#8) was the last decent MRH book I've read. Going into this book with an air of low expectations isn't how I want to start an adventure novel...

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Eh. He dragged out the series for ages, didn't he.

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

Found while checking to see if Carl Hiaasen had anything new on the shelf. Apparently Georgette Heyer wrote scads of Regency romances in the '30s. Does the fact that these books are 70 years old have anything to do with why they are in the general fiction section, and not the romance section? They're published by HQN Books. I like seeing writers reach back to language of the time period, I know how we do it today, but how was it done in the '30s? 

Also, I went to the Red Balloon Bookshop last night, and bought Half Magic (new paperback but with the original inside illustrations, a very happy memory from my childhood) and Ender's Game (because the movie is coming out, I need a refresher, and... seriously? I don't own a copy of Ender's Game??)

5K #1 - Complete

Well, the internet, I did it. I ran that 5K.

It was immensely pleasing to do.  It was hot, and difficult, and I sprinted at the end and thought "This won't do, I'm going to be very ill", but I wasn't ill, we all made it, we all did well, we all smiled at the end.

I ate half a pizza and two SoyJoy bars ♥ ♥ ♥ My love for SoyJoy knows no bounds.



What's next?

In 127 days is the Turkey Day 5K.

My focus for the next 3 weeks is going to be Awa Odori

...with some running mixed in. I am in the above video, actually, the one with the dangling pink bag.


After that, it's back to training!

Running Down the Week

So this 5K is in two days. I'm nervous. My secret preparation?

Training & Tofu!

My life is ruled by colors

I went on a low-impact run for 20 minutes today, finally stealing that file on the first zombie outbreak patient while para-military ops swarmed the building. Yeah, like the undead weren't enough, I have to deal with secret agent nonsense as well! I haven't quite decided if I'm going to be doing Zombies, Run! during the actual 5K... I'll more likely just put on some music and set up Run Keeper to keep me on pace. 

Tomorrow I'll go out cycling in the morning or have a nice walk, and then... well, do my best on the actual day. My best runs in the past have been when I'm well fed and well rested. This morning was a little difficult, coming on the heels of two rocking awesome full days, with no breakfast. 

Which brings me to my new favorite breakfast... tofu in a blender.

I never thought I would be a person who drank smoothies, simply for the reason that I looked at people who drink smoothies, and filed them under a broad umbrella category of "people living a different style of life from me" which might be some sort of "-ist" (classist? foodist?). The point is, I think it's a faddy replacement for an actual food, and should not be treated as a meal or a food in its own right. Yet I drink those suckers at least twice a week.

As follows:

1.  It's easier to make than many a breakfast food, and besides, in the wee hours I often don't want to eat any of the "traditional" breakfast foods. (I'm looking at you, pancakes!) That stuff belongs to brunch-time only!
2. It's sort of delicious. Not super delicious, mind you, but well-enough tasting that I desire to continue consuming it until it's gone. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it's not the world's greatest flavor, so what are you going to do?
3. It doesn't make me feel awful. I wouldn't say that I gain superpowers after consumption, but I have yet to feel sluggish or sick or weighed down, which is something that can happen with an empty stomach + food. 

So there you have it, the magic of tofu... I guess. That was more a list of "negatives that it lacks" instead of "positives it contains", but in general, hoping for too much too soon is a path to disappointment.

The rest of this week looks to be good. I promised The Bean I would take him to the library so we could get books about England, and Eels. I want to read more Dune books. My Mimi is in town, and hopefully this week I can put on a fancy dress and go on a fancy date with her. Almost every day, I'll get to sleep in. Win win win win, all week long. 

A Tool of their Machinations

All afternoon today I was exhausted, but by the time 8:30 rolled around, I was finally ready to run. Two days ago I had one of my best runs ever. I did a pace of 11:16, which, if you will recall from just a month ago, is a drop of 1:31.
Full disclaimer, a month ago I was running intervals with more walking, and now I'm up to longer running intervals. It's not that I'm crazy fast now, but I have stamina. I can run more.

Anyway, feeling the block of being tired, I just cast my mind back to that success in terms of mental preparation. And so off we trot.


I just finished up Week 6 (walk 5, run 22, walk 5), from here on it's just running. Running and running, a few minutes more each time.

The Zombies, Run! story has sort of stalled in my mind. I'm working through a multi-episode arc involving a doctor with a terrible U.S. accent, who wants me to find some medical records about the first infected person, and has basically shanghai'd the radio station away from my trusted radio contact, Sam. Poor old Sam. And I'm like a less-exciting version of Brad Pitt, trotting around out there with my lightbulbs and baseball bats and packets of matches, dodging zombies and being the secret errand-girl for some darn doctor.

It's not that I don't want to know what happened to Patient Zero, but I'm just tired of being a tool for some lady who doesn't really care about me. Sam cares. I adore Sam, and I'll run where ever he tells me, even though he's bad at geography and can't tell his left from his right. This doctor just rubs me the wrong way.

It didn't matter too much today, though. I had other things on my mind, and ruminations pass the time as quickly as zombies do.



Finding out that you don't have any ice cream in house, at nearly 11pm, is really crap :/

Book Haul, Early July

Small but mighty!

Here it is, my haul for early July.

I write this having completed all but two of the items above, which is actually quite a feat. The whole point of these hauls is to gather up as many interesting-seeming items as possible, and then try them out. Usually, there are a few rejects. But not this time, ho ho!

The True Darcy Spirit and The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston.

As I wrote in the previous entry, Elizabeth Aston writes a continuation of Pride & Prejudice, largely concerned with the extended network of the Darcy family. Lots of cousins, distant relatives, etc. Lost fortunes, arrogant members of the ton trying to keep spirited young women under their thumbs, the usual tricks. 

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

It's been quite some time since I saw the movie, so I am enjoying this (not remembering what all happens). I picked up this book in the mental health section of the library, where I was trying to do research on anxiety.

The Mummy at the Dining Room Table by Jeffery A Kottler and Jon Carlson

This is the other book I picked up from the mental health section. It has nothing to do with anxiety, and everything to do with therapists talking about their most interesting cases. It was good because while the stories of the people were extremely interesting, it was also neat to hear about the therapists' reactions and reasonings for doing what they did or trying what they tried. 

The rest of the books in the section weren't so good, and I must admit I ended up going home and punching "anxiety" into Google. So, you know, that.

Off the Grid by P.J. Tracy

P.J. Tracy, if you don't know, is a mother-daughter writing team from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They write detective thrillers that take place in the midwest, and so far they have all been pretty good. It's a satisfying cast: the two Detectives (one a slightly-naieve family man, the other a slightly-bitter divorcee), the rest of the MNPD (the red-headed computer guy, the sassy receptionist, the Chief), and the Monkeewrench team (a group of computer software designers who are targeted by crime in the first novel, and stay on as main characters throughout). 

Just go read their books. They're quick, engaging, and awesome.

A Night at the Opera by the Marx Brothers

Are you watching the Marx Brothers? Why not?

Contains one of my favorite Chico piano scenes of all time (although this one is a very close second) also "Cosi Cosa" which is good to sing anytime, anywhere. 

So there you have it, what's tided me over for the past two weeks. As soon as I finish up The Second Mrs. Darcy and Girl, Interrupted, it's off to the library again!

Oh, Mr. Darcy!

I blog to you today from my deck, soaking in the gorgeous summer sun (not really -- I'm under an umbrella. Skin cancer, you know) with ice-water and sweet cherries, and a lovely breeze blowing through the trees. I feel just grand!

Here's a few things I've had going:

Whoa there, Darcy!

The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston.

Finished it. Didn't love it, but enjoyed it. Elizabeth Aston has written... 6? 7? books that continue the story of the Darcys, starting with a story about their five daughters (Mr. Darcy's Daughters). It's written in language that captures some of the era, but with a definite modern slant. There is more chat and less description. I find that since Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth aren't actual characters in the story (so far they are always off in Constantinople or Venice or whatever) the reader can have fun with the idea without being scandalized by modern treatment of beloved characters.

Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife by Linda Berdoll

I wrote in an old blog about a book that picks up right after the marriage of the Darcy's and the Bingley's (It may have in fact been called The Darcy's and the Bingley's) and how it was so nauseating with professions of love that I could mark my pages with dribbles of vomit. 

Is that too much of an image?

Anyway, this book has Mr. Darcy acting as more of a reserved jerk than a love-sick sop in private. It's nice. The author is hell-bent on writing in the style of the day, so you have to wade through long paragraphs and ill-chosen words in order to figure out what the hell is happening. There is a lot of flash-back and exposition. I had to reach for the dictionary a few times to figure out who had insulted who. But bits of it are quite funny, and make up for the tedious parts. Lydia explaining sex to Elizabeth and Jane had me laughing quite a lot. 

Lastly, I got new glasses

Shiny!

Definitely saucy librarian time.

BARF - Coconut Sweet

Soooo... let's do some BARF!

Today's BARF comes from "Greatest Ever Indian" cookbook, which looks like it ought to be part of a "Greatest Ever" series of cookbooks, but is not (as far as I can tell). It's definitely one of those books that you can pick up for a few bucks in the front section of Barnes & Noble, which makes you less likely to actually buy it... which is too bad, because it's a pretty good cookbook as far as I can tell.

I mean, look at that little guy!

Naturally I go straight for the dessert section, because I can't afford to buy all that lamb (sweet, delicious lamb) required for the meat & entree section. 

I picked Coconut Sweet because it contains 3 ingredients, all of which are delicious on their own (coconut, butter, condensed milk) and it seemed simple. 

Welp. It's supposed to cool down after the cooking so you can "shape the coconut mixture into long blocks". This is what I ended up with:

Sure, I'll just pick that up with my hands, thanks.

As you can see, it is not very... shapey. The picture in the book shows a nice little crumbly cake-like slice of coconut sweet, like that kind of molding sand that children play with. It's a gooey, sticky blob. I can't form this into anything other than a smaller blob. 

Not to say that it isn't delicious. It tastes amazing. I have been dipping a spoon into the pot and just eating it straight, which is good for me, but bad for anyone wanting to avoid my germs (SUCKERS). 

Is it a success? I think so... presentation is very important in food, but when it comes to things that are supposed to look like boring little blocks anyway, I think that taste trumps all. And the taste of this dessert is FANTASTIC. It's simple, it's incredibly sweet, and it's coconutty. 

Nothing not to love. 

Running Days 6 - 10 (?)

I honestly couldn't tell you how many days it's been. C25K gave me some sass a few times, such as running the wrong day program, or refusing to list as completed a run I had just completed, so that makes it difficult to know what's what. I also had a couple of days where my body was just completely crapped out. Running is not fun when you feel like you're just dragging your carcass from Point A to Point B with no joy whatsoever. What's the deal with that? I have no idea.

Yesterday and today were pretty groovy, I'm on week 5 and it's definitely a big step up. I know I'm going to have to repeat today's run before I can move to the next step, just because I felt so barfy doing it.

What motivates you at this point? When things get barfy?

Two things give me life at this point;

The first is that I am now financially involved in this whole running nonsense. Money has been paid to enter the upcoming race (cool T-shirt and high-tech timing bib acquired) and I also upgraded my footwear to proper running shoes (aka "Sweet kicks!") and I've been told that all the fancy support and worth in those shoes will last for X number of miles (so let's make those miles count by running them, I suppose). I like my new shoes quite a lot; they are fast and very fetching. Because I was getting a promotional discount that day, I also bought running socks, which are apparently better than regular socks (also, ALL my regular socks have silly patterns on them).

Second, I am hugely inspired by two people, Ro-Ren (who introduced me to all these apps I use), and my runner friend (The Runner? I haven't decided if I should pseudonym my real-life friends here. Yes. I will. If you haven't got a public internet presence with a proper name, I'm going to assign you one here. Let's call this person... Runner 29. If I come up with a better name I'll edit this, but for the sake of things right now, Runner 29 it is).

Ro-ren just finished Warrior Dash, which comes with a cool hat and some crazy obstacle course, and watching her accomplish things makes me feel inspired to run more. She's so positive about her experiences and her leveling up, I love it!

Runner 29 is a proper runner, and encourages me to keep going, and is one of the folks who got me into the 5k next month. We went on a run today (each at our own pace) that I can't honestly say I would have done if left to my own devices (because I am a lazy bum, haha). Runner 29 is a lot faster than me, having done this for quite some time. He put in something like 9 miles to my 4 k and I thought "I want to be able to do that!" ....someday. I will be able to. Someday.

"This feels good. I feel really good!"

When you say that at the end, you know you're doing well.


Two more people from work have signed up for the same 5k, which is awesome. Hooray for friends running!

Running Day 5

Whoa-ho, today was an intense day!

Let's start with... Lederhosenlauf!

Today was the Lederhosenlauf (Lederhosen Run) 5K in St. Paul. I know someone who plays the accordion for singers & polka-dancers at the halfway mark, and needed some folks to get all gussied up and sing and dance the polka. I figured those were things I could do on a Saturday morning, so I got out my scissors and turned an old dress into a dirndl.

Let me say that I have never danced the polka before, and my German is APPALLING but with some well-applied gung-ho spirit, we sang and danced and cheered the runners, and then headed off for our 9:30 AM beer and brats. Because, Germany.

It was intimidating to see all these people running along at the halfway mark, some looking very tired indeed. I thought, "Oh crap, this is going to be difficult, isn't it?". Then a friend of mine trotted up, clearly having run AT LEAST 5K already, looking fresh as a daisy and ready to lope along for a good long while.

I was pretty much consumed with envy, which is one of the best motivators there is.

No, I should amend that. It's not so much envy as it is a desire to be like that person, and to embody their totally awesome traits and abilities. Sometimes I look at another person who is levels ahead of me in some skill and am struck with this kind of love and hero-worship, and I just think they are so cool and capable and I want to be like them to the extent that I start thinking about eating them and crawling inside their flesh and wearing it like a scary mask and gaining all their powers.

"Envy" is perhaps a less-creepy way of expressing that emotion.



At any rate, I came home all fired up, and worked in the garden until 5 pm, when I set off running (Week 4, Day 1). It was a stupid combination of going the difficult way around the block (up a long hill) and leveling up 1 week, which has longer run periods. I got caught by zombies at minute 25, trying to turn my jog into a sprint on the middle of the hill. At the end of the session I went so far that I ran out of block, and had to sort of run up and down the street just to use up time.

After cooling down and having a toilet, I suddenly felt really amazing, and this is where the day became even more bonkers, because I decided to go out AGAIN. Basically, RIGHT AWAY. I went the easy way around, and did Wk1D2 in order to catch a break, but it was still pretty difficult. I felt funky around minute 40, and zombies caught me again, twice.

But I saved a bunch of people who were trying to escape a fire and a zombie attack, so that's OK!



So far I'm averaging about 7.5 minutes per kilometer, which I guess is OK. It's been steady so I guess I can only get faster? I did 3.9k in 31 minutes on my first lap of the block. Apparently an "average" pace for a 27 year old woman is 11:47 (WHAT) so that's... my goal? That first lap has a pace of 12:47, so hey, that's pretty good for being on track.



Heigh-ho away I go, faria faria ho!