I seem to always have problems with the buses. I guess b/c I spend so much time on them. So this is how stupid they are...
The bus I was one was early, so the bus driver takes a break. Totally cool, no problems, I sit patiently. As he comes back, some guy walks up to the bus driver and asks "Were you the bus just now on State St?" The driver says no, he was here. This person is super angry and immediately starts yelling about how some bus had nearly ran over a blind man with a guide dog in the crosswalk and how the driver of that bus had been steadily blowing his horn and apparently being obnoxious. So the angry man says "I'm calling this in." Ok, perfect, feel free.
Except that my bus driver then gets off the bus to go argue with this man (I couldn't hear, but the gestures definitely indicated argument). He is off the bus for another 10 minutes. Ok, fine. I am annoyed, but not particularly upset.
But then, the driver gets on the bus, the angry man goes away, and an older gentleman walks up to the door (which the driver closes in his face, but then opens) to ask about some destination. The driver says "yes I go there, but I have to leave now." So the man gestures to another individual who (not to be too stereotypical) appears to be homeless, and also rather infirm. He is not right by the bus, but a bit down the street. The first guy tells him to take this bus. Meanwhile the bus driver keeps saying "I have to go, I am leaving now!" But the man couldn't walk any faster, yet the driver was totally inconsiderate, and nearly shut the door in his face too.
So my question is: why would you have a pointless argument with some guy (business man, well dressed, nice suit) that has nothing to do with you for 10 minutes, but then almost leave some person (potentially ill and homeless) with the excuse that you are going to be late? Oh and he used the passangers as an excuse "They have places to get to" he said, gesturing behind him. That didn't stop him from chatting with the other man. It wasn't nice. And I just thought I would share, b/c I was aggravated.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Book the Fourth (and stuff)
I was going to let this go by w/o commenting, but it has been bothering me. Oh, what would a book challenge be for me if I actually finished one. It would take all the *fun* out of it. Yeah, I only read three - again! But I guarantee had I said "I will read three" I would have only read two. That my dears is how the world-according-to-Chay works*.
To be perfectly honest about it though, I don't think I have finished a book in like a month. I started reading..wait let me turn around and count... 9 books in the past month - none of them I have finished, and some of them are quite overdue. And this is not a number that includes academic scholarly books. No, they are all fantasy or fiction of some sort (and one mystery that is amazing if I ever get through it; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie). However, grad school caused me to develop ADD, which I have acknowledged usually as a joke, but might actually be serious.
Oh, and might I remind myself and everyone else that I have to read 4 Faulkner books in the next month or so. That has a potential of being completed b/c I will be flying home for Christmas and I usually manage to get at least one read during my journeys, and then I will have some time off to just lay around in warmer climates whilst trying to not stress about being unemployed next semester.
Since I might not post before then - Happy Turkey Day. I am attending a Thanksgiving Dinner largely as a bum in which my sole contribution will be fruit salad and potentially port or vodka. But I like fruit salad, and alcohol, so it kinda works for me.
*i.e. sort of half-assed most of the time
To be perfectly honest about it though, I don't think I have finished a book in like a month. I started reading..wait let me turn around and count... 9 books in the past month - none of them I have finished, and some of them are quite overdue. And this is not a number that includes academic scholarly books. No, they are all fantasy or fiction of some sort (and one mystery that is amazing if I ever get through it; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie). However, grad school caused me to develop ADD, which I have acknowledged usually as a joke, but might actually be serious.
Oh, and might I remind myself and everyone else that I have to read 4 Faulkner books in the next month or so. That has a potential of being completed b/c I will be flying home for Christmas and I usually manage to get at least one read during my journeys, and then I will have some time off to just lay around in warmer climates whilst trying to not stress about being unemployed next semester.
Since I might not post before then - Happy Turkey Day. I am attending a Thanksgiving Dinner largely as a bum in which my sole contribution will be fruit salad and potentially port or vodka. But I like fruit salad, and alcohol, so it kinda works for me.
*i.e. sort of half-assed most of the time
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Milorad Pavic
(Apologies to fans of Milorad Pavic, b/c I already know that any description I offer of his books is going to do the man a great disservice.)
Thanks to a sojourn to the library last weekend, I found a great new author (new as in "new to me"). But there is a surreal story which goes along with the discovery of this book and just so happens to perfectly complement the style of the book. Meaning, ultimately, that the universe wanted me to know about Milorad Pavic.
So, the story goes...
Me and a friend were scanning pages for class. Actually she was scanning and as I had been in the library for 6 or so hours at that point, I was just talking to her. Next to us was a cart for books due to be reshelved. I was glancing through them, making completely random work-addled comments like "oh I should study Polish" or whatever b/c all of the books were dictionaries of various kinds or language instruction manuals.
But then, I see this red book with gold lettering entitled "Dictionary of the Khazars: male edition." Between the two of us, I feel me and this person know a lot about East Europe, Russia, and Central Asia - the name Khazars definitely felt like it belonged to that region. But we had never heard of them. I start to browse through the book. It has the oddest introduction. This tells the story of how in the 16th century there were two known copies of the Dictionary; one in gold and one with a silver lock. One of these was written in poisoned ink so that anyone who read it would instantly die. Furthermore, if one read the gold edition and the silver edition side by side they would be able to learn the moment of their death. I am at this point beyond intrigued, and yet completely confused.
Now for most people, the end to this story is obvious. Its not a dictionary at all, and you would have figured that out much sooner. We might have immediately come to such a conclusion also, except for the fact that it was to be shelved with other dictionaries - thus, lending a certain amount of credibility to the book's assertion that it was in fact a dictionary. And yes, you could dismiss such an incident with the very mundane comment "the librarian miscatalogued the book." Well, yes, that is one explanation. But considering Pavic's style (evoking comparisions to Borges), that his goal is to create non-linear books, which can be read in a multiplicity of ways, I feel that the circumstances of finding the book are completely appropriate. It wasn't miscatalogued at all.
Dictionary of the Khazars is a story told in three sections. It is the story of how a mythical group of Khazars come to choose between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In real life, they chose Judaism, but in the Dictionary their choice has been lost in time. One section of the book consists of Judaic sources regarding the Khazars, the other Christian references, and finally information from Islam on the group. There is a male edition and a female edition, which differ in only one, apparently crucial, paragraph. But this is not the most interesting of his books.
Landscape Painted With Tea happens to be a crossword puzzle. Yes, a crossword puzzle. I have only begun to read it, but my understanding of the book is that the first part is a story with various different endings and beginnings, while Book II can be read either "across" i.e. linear, or "down." There is a page that serves as a guide and tells you which sections to read depending on the path that you chose.
Last Love in Constantinople is a "Tarot Novel for Divination." So, it can on one hand be read in the normal way, or it can be read dealing out tarot cards as if for a reading. The sections in the book correspond to the cards, and whichever cards you are dealt you read those sections. Luckily for me, I already own a pack of Tarot cards.
He has a few other books, but my library didn't have those, so I have no idea what gems they conceal. I did read on his website that he wrote a book called Unique Item that consists of a different ending for every single copy produced - that is the book is in fact unique to each person who owns a copy.
Thanks to a sojourn to the library last weekend, I found a great new author (new as in "new to me"). But there is a surreal story which goes along with the discovery of this book and just so happens to perfectly complement the style of the book. Meaning, ultimately, that the universe wanted me to know about Milorad Pavic.
So, the story goes...
Me and a friend were scanning pages for class. Actually she was scanning and as I had been in the library for 6 or so hours at that point, I was just talking to her. Next to us was a cart for books due to be reshelved. I was glancing through them, making completely random work-addled comments like "oh I should study Polish" or whatever b/c all of the books were dictionaries of various kinds or language instruction manuals.
But then, I see this red book with gold lettering entitled "Dictionary of the Khazars: male edition." Between the two of us, I feel me and this person know a lot about East Europe, Russia, and Central Asia - the name Khazars definitely felt like it belonged to that region. But we had never heard of them. I start to browse through the book. It has the oddest introduction. This tells the story of how in the 16th century there were two known copies of the Dictionary; one in gold and one with a silver lock. One of these was written in poisoned ink so that anyone who read it would instantly die. Furthermore, if one read the gold edition and the silver edition side by side they would be able to learn the moment of their death. I am at this point beyond intrigued, and yet completely confused.
Now for most people, the end to this story is obvious. Its not a dictionary at all, and you would have figured that out much sooner. We might have immediately come to such a conclusion also, except for the fact that it was to be shelved with other dictionaries - thus, lending a certain amount of credibility to the book's assertion that it was in fact a dictionary. And yes, you could dismiss such an incident with the very mundane comment "the librarian miscatalogued the book." Well, yes, that is one explanation. But considering Pavic's style (evoking comparisions to Borges), that his goal is to create non-linear books, which can be read in a multiplicity of ways, I feel that the circumstances of finding the book are completely appropriate. It wasn't miscatalogued at all.
Dictionary of the Khazars is a story told in three sections. It is the story of how a mythical group of Khazars come to choose between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In real life, they chose Judaism, but in the Dictionary their choice has been lost in time. One section of the book consists of Judaic sources regarding the Khazars, the other Christian references, and finally information from Islam on the group. There is a male edition and a female edition, which differ in only one, apparently crucial, paragraph. But this is not the most interesting of his books.
Landscape Painted With Tea happens to be a crossword puzzle. Yes, a crossword puzzle. I have only begun to read it, but my understanding of the book is that the first part is a story with various different endings and beginnings, while Book II can be read either "across" i.e. linear, or "down." There is a page that serves as a guide and tells you which sections to read depending on the path that you chose.
Last Love in Constantinople is a "Tarot Novel for Divination." So, it can on one hand be read in the normal way, or it can be read dealing out tarot cards as if for a reading. The sections in the book correspond to the cards, and whichever cards you are dealt you read those sections. Luckily for me, I already own a pack of Tarot cards.
He has a few other books, but my library didn't have those, so I have no idea what gems they conceal. I did read on his website that he wrote a book called Unique Item that consists of a different ending for every single copy produced - that is the book is in fact unique to each person who owns a copy.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Book The Third
I bet you didn't think I would get this far? That I had given up on the book challenge? Almost...but not quite. A few pages left in The Keeper, but I don't want to rush through it b/c I actually like that book. However, for now, for my 3rd book I read Dark Delicacies, which is a collection of short stories. I am not the biggest fan of short stories or anthologies in general, but there was a lot of hype about this one. And it had some cool names on the front - people I've read, like, or at least recognized. But what can I say about this book? Meh. Thats it. I really liked the first story - by of all people Ray Bradbury.* It was a sort of ghost story/zombie/reincarnation mixture that was a bit creepy, but over all entertaining. The Brian Lumley story is ok, yet seriously weird - and way more sci fi** than horror. Not outstanding though. My favorite story by far was by Nancy Holder "Out Twelve Steppin." It was about a couple of famous rock stars who are in fact cannibals, and who have a strangely co-dependent relationship. Overall though, I wasn't impressed with the book. I would probably give this book 2.5 stars
* I saw him give a talk once. FYI
** Which is odd b/c Bradbury is usually sci fi, and Lumley pure horror - guess they decided to switch up genres here.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
insert expletive here
Finally we are at the point in the class that I teach where I feel comfortable and suitably knowledgeable - i.e. religion, symbolism, mythology, meaning. All such fun things. And we are reading about shamanism - should be fun. Except that it is only Tuesday and I am exhausted. Was being nice and scheduled extra office hours this week. That was a train wreck. I'm glad I helped people but sitting in the office 4 1/2 hours one day then 2 1/2 the next day talking to students non stop during those periods totally wore me out. That shouldn't be strenuous, but really I could go to sleep right now (it is 8:36pm at this exact moment). Except that I have to right a lesson plan for tomorrow, finish reading several books, and write an exam.
On a positive note, I went to a concert over the weekend (god, was that really 4 days ago?!). St. Vincent. Normally I would link to her website or post some sort of video in the "music of the moment" space to the right, but I don't feel like it. She was cool. And I mean that word quite specifically. My friend lent me her c.d. which I am now listening to. I think I like her a bit better in concert, but still good stuff.
On a positive note, I went to a concert over the weekend (god, was that really 4 days ago?!). St. Vincent. Normally I would link to her website or post some sort of video in the "music of the moment" space to the right, but I don't feel like it. She was cool. And I mean that word quite specifically. My friend lent me her c.d. which I am now listening to. I think I like her a bit better in concert, but still good stuff.
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