General
FAA-gettabout it
I just checked the FAA website to see whether I’m allowed to put nail scissors in my carry-on when I fly to San Diego today. That’s where we’re at now: nail scissors might be on the list of evil items. It turns out you CAN carry nail scissors on now, though this is a new … Continue reading
Eclipse
Before I lost the book, I was reading Michele’s copy of Eclipse, the third in a series of vampire/werewolf/teen novels by Stephanie Meyer that we both enjoy. (The first two were Twilight and New Moon.) The above description (vampire/werewolf/teen) is intentional: in these books, teenage girls really are the third monster. The books chronicle the … Continue reading
My first recalcitrant source!
I called an unnamed large university today in search of a quote about a pending lawsuit against them. When the PR guy heard the subject of my call, he…hung up on me. He kind of snorted first. Now, I might have expected such scorn after he heard the name of the paper I work for, … Continue reading
Stay tuned for the sequel: Hondas and Geckos
As anyone who has spent time at our house knows, Gene and I own all the video games. By “all,” I mean most arcade, NES, SNES, N64, Sega and Atari games, as well as some of the XBox games and a few other systems. We don’t have those fancy-pants new systems like Wii, but we … Continue reading
Fuck with me and I will wallpaper your bathroom.
I’ve been applying for more gigs recently, seeking to fill those lonely hours that are currently filled with teaching Link how to fish in the Nintendo 64 Zelda. (That is the lamest puzzle, closely followed by the one where you have to capture all the escaped chickens in the village to get your lousy heart … Continue reading
Bank
I recently tried to open a new account with a local credit union, but somehow my thousand dollar check has gotten kind of misplaced. The girl I talked to on the phone put me on hold for a long time while she talked to the mail room guy, but no one’s seen it so far. … Continue reading
The Roald Dahl Omnibus
This weekend I read a bunch of Roald Dahl’s short stories for adults. His stories are told in a voice I associate with Thurber: that boozy, 1950s war-of-the-sexes voice, where male characters are only interested in sex and drinking and female characters are only interested in nagging their husbands and drinking. It’s so far from … Continue reading
The Witch and the Cathedral
The Changeover is a soothing read because nothing really bad happens. I mean, bad things do happen, but you’re removed from the emotion of the scene because of the beauty of the writing. It’s similar to the way Michael Ondaatje can write an emotionally-charged scene that actually calms the reader down — although I’m not … Continue reading
The Changeover
I finished The California Feeling sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk outside our house while Gene changed the oil on his bike. I felt cliched all over again: lolling around on the filthy city ground, happy as a hippie in the sun and shit. (I mean, I hope not shit. But not everyone is thorough about … Continue reading
The California Feeling
Monday found me lounging in the sun by my parents’ pool, sipping a strawberry margarita and reading The California Feeling by Peter S. Beagle. Self, I said to myself, you could not be more cliche right now. Beagle is known for his fantasy novels, especially The Last Unicorn, but in my opinion he saves his … Continue reading