thoughts on a cold day

[I wrote this on Tuesday morning.]

I’ve been sitting in a warm coffeehouse for the last two hours. Outside the glass doors, the snow is blowing from west to east. I don’t see any actually falling – it’s just swirling around.

To my left, someone sings loudly and off-key. A minute ago, he declared to his friend that the War of 1812 was fought “on the Pacific coast” and that it was “fought between America and Spain.” His friend is creating US history worksheets for a high school class. “I might be wrong about that, though,” the singer concedes. I think the War of 1812 is the war in which the British burned the White House. I make a mental note to look up the war when I get home. I think the Madisons were the White House residents at the time.

“Hallelujah” plays on the overhead speakers. I want to sing along, but I don’t know the words well enough.

I should be doing more work, but I’m contemplating my future. I’m back to wondering what my dream job is and if I can, or want to, pursue it.

I wonder who might pay me to be a scholar? Who might pay me to read? Who might pay me to write?

I hope I live to old age, especially because it might take me many, many more years to figure this all out.

I look out the doors again and the wind is more blustery. I want to be at home before dark tonight, but I know that won’t happen. I’m not looking forward to my walk back down to my building. I have my coat, scarf and gloves today. I wore my snow boots. Cardo is trying to pawn his snow bots off on me, but I’m happy with mine. In an attempt to curb the volume of my possessions, I’ve vowed to give away a similar item whenever I get something new (books excepted, of course). If I get his boots, I have to give mine away.

Anyhow, I should be working, not staring off into space. I’ve got a long night ahead. I’ve reached the part of my work schedule where I only sleep every other night. This makes Cardo crazy. For the collective sanity of my family, I’ve vowed to not set myself up in a similar situation next year. Now I’m back to pondering dream jobs.

And, now, I’m heading back into the Land of Productivity.

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"Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen"


"Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Original Studio Version)"

this is my dance space

Watching this clip* just now, I finally realized Baby's mom is Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop).

And, yet, again, I wish I could dance.

Also, I should go to bed. We're entering a tough week of getting up extra early to accomodate Cardo's schedule. But, we do have a Blueberry Apple Crumble pie from 5th St. Bakehouse to look forward to, so that's something.

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* Embedding has been disabled.

snow day? no way

I'm in a bit of a restless mood lately. I'm ready to just get in the car and go. Where? Chissa. Somewhere. However, I have quite a few obligations to attend to here. And, winter is making a few timid appearances.

At the end of last week, we were thinking we would be getting about a foot of snow in the valley. Ha! Ha ha! Um, didn't happen. We got a tiny bit on Friday night/Saturday morning. And, today, we got a bit more, but it was already melting in the morning.

I'm pondering whether I need to wear snow boots tomorrow and how incredibly early we'll have to get up so we'll make it to our respective places. When it's cold and snowy outside (and downright chilly inside), all I really want to do is hibernate. I could spend hours in some warm clothes, bundled under the blankets with plenty of good books on hand. Ah, yes. If only.

Until it's possible for me to hole up during the winter months, we're going about business as usual. However, that doesn't mean we don't have big plans for the future brewing. Because, oh yes, we do.

For now, though, I'm off to climb into a nest of blankets and continue with my necessary work.

dance party!

"Bedtime" around here might just go something like this:


"Bert & Ernie - Dance Myself to Sleep (vintage sesame street)"

Cardo, trying to sleep, Pic and I (me especially) just warming up for the day. Fun times (just ask Cardo). :)

the golden rule

One Minute Writer from Sunday: How do you treat the books that you read?

We don't have many rules in our home. In fact, if you're a person who loves rules, you might just want to stay far, far away, because we'd probably make you very, very uncomfortable. However, I do ask that our books be treated well, overall.

I have a few probably weird rules about my own use of books. If a book is purely a for-pleasure book (my amateur detective novels, my HPs, ecc), I don't write in them. Not that I don't want to; when I see a line I enjoy, I really want to underline it and scribble a star next to it, but I refrain. However, if I feel the book is a "school" text in any way, I'm right in there with a pencil. (I guess the weird part is my internal distinctions between kinds of books.)

I've fine-tuned my reading marks and marginalia over the years. First, I limit myself to pencil. If I come back to the book, I want to be able to erase any markings I no longer find necessary. I underline what I find good or useful in some way. I make a vertical line along the side of the text to draw my eye to these parts. I make a little star next to parts I find especially important. I bracket words or terms I need to look up and draw a little magnifying glass in the margins. When I do look up the term, I add the meaning in brackets in the margin.

I have a really hard time reading most things without a pencil in hand. I feel compelled to mark up texts. This part of the reason I have such an especially difficult time reading on a computer screen. Typing notes or digitally highlighting text just isn't the same, for me, as actually writing on a text.

I also like to catalogue my books. I have one catalogue for my books and one for Pic's books. There isn't a perfectly clear delineation between our books, but I already started this system.

One day, far in the future, when I have more time and when we have many, many more bookcases or (better yet) built-in shelving, I'll have a better shelving system. I try now, but our books get so mixed up. We really do need a card catalogue and a system of categorization. For instance, there are times I want a bunch of books on autumn, and I might pull Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's Apples Apples Apples. However, I might also pull that when looking for books on food. Or, when looking for books by her. Or, when looking for books in which I want to specifically focus on the artwork. (By the way, I love Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's books, if for no other reason, than for perusing her artwork.)

Oh, I could so be a recluse, happy to spend my days with my books.

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And, yeah, that took me longer than one minute to type. I was inspired! (And, I babble.)

putting out fires...

...whether you like it or not.

I was recently introduced to this commercial:


"2007 Super Bowl Commercials - Coca Cola, Video Game"
(Yeah, I don't watch the Super Bowl)

And, all I could think was, "Hey, you put out someone's heat source!" Perhaps the trash in the can was only just on fire, but I was thinking it was it was a deliberately-set fire, made to keep some of those people warm. (However, it doesn't really seem like a chilly day.)

(And, yes, I do overthink, um, everything, perhaps.)

psa: thrift sale

Tomorrow, Savers is hosting one of its 50%-off sales on clothes, shoes, accessories and bed & bath items. Books, sadly, are not on sale. That's okay, though, I much prefer to buy my books at Goodwill or at library book sales. (I can't wait to read what I picked up last Sunday!)

We might be picking up some warm clothes for Pic tomorrow.

We're getting to the time of year I really would like to hibernate in my warm bed. Yesterday morning, we woke up and the thermostat read 48 degrees. Yikes! I was, once again, thankful we live inside and also that I could turn on the heat to warm up the condo a bit.

Tomorrow is, of course, Veterans Day, nee Armistice Day. I'm never quite sure how to observe such days, other than send silent "peace be with you"s for those who have fought in and those who have lost their lives in military service. I will never understand war, really, no matter how much I learn about its causes, but I still grieve for those who have lost their lives and for those who have to/choose to partake in such endeavors.

I didn't mean to completely shift there, but I find it interesting that we use special occasions as opportune times for sales. I'm glad I'll be able to buy inexpensive clothes at an even lower price, but I'm not really sure how hosting/attending a sale is observing such occasions.