Through a convoluted series of clicking I happened to see this blog, and was intrigued. Basically its another book challenge and while I am doing at least 2 (possibly three) over at LT, I think this one will be easier for me to finish.
For Peril the First (there are some different choices offered on the website), I will be reading four books in the horror/suspense/mystery category. All the books I have chosen were already scattered about my apt. waiting to be read (some started then abandoned b/c I have developed ADD).
So here is my pool of books for the challenge:
The God of the Razor by Joe R. Lansdale
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer
Cabal by Clive Barker
Might reread some Poppy Z. Brite in honor of the previous post, or maybe Tanith Lee...but at least for sure the four mentioned above.
# Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.# Bold all the items you've eaten.# Cross out any items that you would never consider eating (or eating again) 1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper 27. Dulce de leche 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini 58. Beer above 8% ABV 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian 66. Frog’s Legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe 74. Gjetost or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee 100. Snake
Even though class has started and I have been super overwhelmed today thinking about how I will manage all of these insanely work-intensive courses, plus apply for grants, in addition to eating and sleeping every once in a while.... I spent the afternoon watching the movie Cloverfield, and the second half of the 2-hour premier of America's Next Top Model.
Cloverfield was ok. Not my favorite movie ever, but definitely not the worst. Wasn't super scary, and I guess it was lacking a certain "completeness." I'm sure people will justify it by saying, oh but the premise of the movie takes care of that b/c supposedly it was filmed by some guy and his friends as they were running for their lives. Well, maybe, but it needed something more to tie it all together. And the ending, I mean I guess I know what happened, and I harass my mom all the time b/c she wants every single tiny possible conceivable storyline/question answered, but again there could have been something more at the ending, than the way they did it. But really I give it like a B.
On the other hand ANTM. I don't know why I am so addicted to this show. I think it is Mr. Jay, definitely not Ms. Jay, he is annoying. Its definitely not Tyra she is annoying too. But its seriously addictive, in the way that facebook is addictive (conspiracy? are they working together?...). This season features a transgender model. My friend, when I tell her this "oh did you hear..." replies with "They have been talking about that for months" Ok, so I don't read "People" magazine or follow the gossip columns. I'm not that obsessed. Should be an interesting season, but honestly I think its always interesting - yes every single episode - even when nothing really happens.
Now, I really am going to go read some articles, for a class that I might potentially drop, but just in case....
Updated to add: serious rambling going on in the post, not sure if any of these are actual grammatical sentences...ah well, these things happen...
So far, what I have heard is that it wasn't that bad. My friends in St. Tammany Parish don't have power, but say the storm wasn't too terrible. I think I am more nervous b/c I am not there, and just have a bit of an overreaction to hurricanes now after Katrina, and I should remember that I have in fact lived through a couple of Cat. 2 storms.
My mom in MS says they are fine, they in fact still have power, but its still hard to get in touch with people in St. Tammany Parish, namely my father and brother.
Did you know fact of the day: 2 million people evacuated Southern La. That is a lot of people!
Still a bit worried about my friends closer to Lafayette, they were really close to the eye of the storm, but again it has seriously weakened, so they should be fine. Fingers crossed.
Updated to add: There was just a tornado warning near my family in Mississippi, so they aren't out of it yet. Still haven't heard from dad or my brother. In Plaquemines Parish, the water has overtopped the levee, but it is not breached. They are dumping sand and putting up sandbags, but even some places in St. Bernard are getting flooded. Pretty serious, as water is also going under a lock there.
Water was earlier coming over the seawall in Mandeville, its pretty low lying and tends to flood, but I'm not sure how serious of a situation that it currently.
Baton Rouge got perhaps the worst wind of the storm. Gusts up to 91mph. They showed some scenes near LSU and it looked pretty bad with trees down everywhere, and that was before the main part of the storm had even passed through.
And yes, I promise that I have been doing other things than constantly watching the news.
A little while ago, water began pouring over the floodwall at the Industrial Street Canal. Did I mention that Gustav was a Cat. 2 hurricane. Oh, I didn't, well then.
Hurricane Gustav is a Category 2 hurricane. These shiny new reinforced supposedly better floodwalls I believe are supposed to withstand a Cat. 3 hurricane, which Gustave was right before it made landfall, and which they originally predicated would be a 4 or 5 at landfall. But why dont' you see what FEMA had to say about the levee situation. I really truly thought that the plan was to build them high enough and strong enough (though breakage of the levee is not an issue right now, someone reported on the channel 6 website that she thought there was water coming under one of the floodgates) to withstand a Cat. 3. I can't get over this, seriously.
As the reporter is watching the water coming over "like a waterfall" they ask one of their "experts" what he thinks about the situation. Basically his response (not an exact quote) "They weren't built high enough. They must be about 15 feet, and they should be around 18 -20." But he was estimating, so I'm not saying that the levees are not high enough I don't know enough about how that works - what I am saying is that whatever they did they managed to still screw up the the wall somehow b/c Gustav is only a 2.
Updated to Add: I might have overreacted a little bit, as of right now the water is no longer pouring over the wall, so I guess it is ok. But I stand by the fact that the scene of that water coming over made me really nervous, and I was completely justified in being upset about it :)
On a more personal note, can't call anyone. My mom swore she'd call me this morning well before the hurricane hit. She isn't is La, rather MS. and the weather was still fairly bad there, but nothing like where my father and brother are. Last I heard 35,000 people are without power in St. Tammany parish. This is to be expected. I'm sure their power is out, and cell phone coverage might be interupted for a bit, but also I think there is just an overload of people calling. I couldn't get in touch with my sister in Northern La., probably b/c of this last reason. She is too far from the storm for it to be due to power/cell outages.
One last thing, my friend who lives in St. Landry parish stayed. This makes me SUPER nervous b/c the eye of the storm was headed more in that western direction, around Lafayette. As of about an hour or maybe two ago only 50 people were w/o power in that parish, but I think that was more due to the fact that the storm hadn't quite made it there yet. Honestly of all the people down there that I know, I am most worried about her. She lives very near the Atchafalaya River and her parents live right across the levee over there.
"On Saturday, Gustav stretched 900 miles across and it continued to grow. In contrast, the footprint of Katrina was about 400 miles in diameter when it hit."
That is the scariest thing I have heard all day. It is huge!! So even if it does make a sudden turn further west it still is going to affect all of Louisiana.
My mom and grandma are leaving, my sister is up in Northern La. My brother and father are staying with the animals. Lots of my friends are staying. I was pretty ok, until I listened to Nagin's speech, and while I do feel he exaggerated a lot, he kind of made me panicky.
It is now expected to hit tomorrow, rather than Tuesday. They were saying that even though there are other weather systems in the gulf that could affect the direction of the hurricane, the thing is so big that it is unlikely. But still, I shouldn't start freaking now, since there is the potential that nothing super terrible will happen.
