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.