Tag Archives: general

So – here’s some news…

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So, there is some momentous news for me in my world: I have a new job. Yessiree. I’ve left my previous job for some different adventures but still at the same university. I have been invited to join the faculty in the department of Media Communications at the university, and I am completely excited about this. I’m going to start in the fall (i.e. next month), and until then I’m on vacation which means … Guess what?

Loads and loads of free time to do stuff! This is such a great gift for me, as I usually tend to feel as though I don’t really have enough time to do All the Things, and now I have the next three weeks off. And how am I going to fill the time, you ask? Well….

I am reading the textbook(s) to become familiar with the material that class will be covering, and I’m researching some of the Best Practices for teaching in the classroom. I’ll be covering sophomore technical writing classes for media (along with a technical writing class for the English department), and I am so psyched to be back into the classroom after such a long time. I’m also going to be (posh title alert) Editor-in-Chief for the college’s publications, and I am very looking forward to this whole new adventure.

In the meantime, I have a few days in which to mess about doing non-work stuff such as working out, reading, writing, and doing general catching up on life. My reading mojo has returned as well, and so that’s been a lot of fun for me. I have missed the joy of reading over the past few months, and have a small pile of books that I’ve pulled from the TBR shelves from which to choose.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying Our Longest Days, a collection of WWII Mass Observation diaries edited by Sandra Koa Wing (2007), along with a fiction read of Ceremony by Leslie  Marmon Silko, a First Peoples author, and both are good so far.

I’m also preparing to travel to CA to see some family out there, and, as always, am enjoying the excitement of choosing which titles to take with me to read (on Kindle and otherwise). Book nerds unite!

So – life is good right now. I hope that you can say the same of your life. 🙂

(Life is good except for the orange clown and Charlottesville. That’s not good at all. What is wrong with some of these humans? I’m sending gentle thoughts to the many out there. Be kind. Be calm. Be courageous.)

 

 

Monthly Reading Review: July 2017

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So another month has passed, and let’s check in with how my reading is doing… (just out of interest).

The reads for July included:

So to the numbers:

Total number of books read in July: 5

Total number of pages read:  1,563 pages (av. 313).

Fiction/Non-Fiction: 4 fiction / 1 non-fiction.

Diversity: 2 POC. 4.5 books by women.

Library books vs. books I owned (and thus removed from the home abode): 3 library books, 2 owned book and 0 e-books (although one is in progress…).

Here are the top three most popular posts from the last month:

Plans for August: There are some big changes coming up for me, so we’ll have to see how that goes. (They are good changes.)

 

What I’ve Been Reading….

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So, my last post was all about everything going on without actually talking about books, but I promise there has been reading (naturellement), but it’s not been stupendous with any titles yearning for a long chatty blog post.

As part of the ongoing Century of Books, I picked up a Miss Read (Friends at Thrush Green) which fit in perfectly with the year 1991. (That’s pretty late in life for Miss Read to be still publishing, but it worked and also encompasses fairly modern issues such as alcoholism and senility for some of the characters. People have criticized this title for being darker than her other titles, but it worked for me. This was a thoroughly enjoyable romp full of bubbles and light, and was actually a perfect antidote to the current world situation. A good palate cleanser.

I picked up and put back down two more titles, and then came across an older F. Scott Fitzgerald title, This Side of Paradise, which is his first novel and published in 1920. It follows the life and times of college student Amory Blaine and his relationships with others as he goes through life. Not particularly gleeful to read at times, but a good solid read.

Fitzgerald had just broken up with Zelda earlier the summer that he wrote this novel, and, convinced that he would win Zelda’s heart back if it got published, he sent it to New York publisher Maxwell Perkins. Perkins reluctantly published it, and bingo, Zelda takes back Fitzgerald the spring that the book comes out. Barely a week after the book is published, Zelda and Fitzgerald get married. (Just found out that the title, “This Side of Paradise” comes from a line in a Rupert Brooke’s poem. Huh.)

I’m only about halfway through this read, but am really enjoying it for the most part. (In a bit of slow patch right now, but I bet it picks up.) More to come, I’m sure.

Catch Up Time…

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catch_upWork has been a bit nutty in terms of workload, so my reading has had to slow down a bit. With my bad eye and being in front of a computer screen all day, I’m kinda tired when I get home. That plus I’m wearing contacts which means I can see great far away, but middle distance and close up are terrible. (Thus the not-much reading situation.) Hoping that will get sorted out as the days go by, but there’s quite a bit of fiddling around at the moment.

I spent a lot of today working on website issues which is, surprisingly, great fun and I really enjoy it immersing myself in HTML and other puzzles. There’s always something to do with a large website (such as work has), and I can get completely sucked in at times. I just put some tunes on in the background, and have at it. Rather fun.

Reading seems to have taken a back seat for the last few days. We’ve been catching up with some TV: Better Call Saul (irresistible sidekick series to Breaking Bad), a Netflix series called Case, we’ve started Planet Earth (BBC/David Attenborough), and then saw the Dave Chappelle special the other night. (Mostly funny, but way too many “rape jokes” for my liking. [It’s never ok.]  Dave – you can do better than that.)  ETA: I am completely off Dave Chappelle now, especially since I’ve seen his transphobic rant. Grr.) Oh, and the regulars: Bill Maher, Samantha Bee et al. I’m constantly amazed at what comes out of the White House every day, but only three and a half years to go.

Oh, and I lucked out and got Garth Brooks tickets for this Sunday afternoon’s concert when he comes to town with Trisha Yearwood. (Heehaw. Very excited as he puts on quite a show, I’ve heard. Squeee.) Slightly strange to be going to a big concert on Sunday afternoon, but there you have it. Them’s the breaks sometimes. I’m dragging SuperHero DH with me, which means that I’ll owe him a concert in return. Slightly concerned that this might entail a Disturbd or Korn concert, but I’m crossing my fingers that it’s something a bit more palatable than that.

We also bought Daniel Tosh (comedian) tickets for later this month. He’s got some hilarious set pieces with some questionable pieces in between. He’s more good than not, so we’re going. Rather looking forward to him as he has no mercy for anything or anyone. Ever. You just sit there and cringe while you’re laughing and hope that he doesn’t pick on you. :-]

The outdoor pool on campus just opened this week. Naturally, the temperatures have plummeted to the 40’s since then, but there are plenty of sunny days ahead. Looking forward to messing around at the pool soon. It’s got a curvy lazy river which is awesome to float in after a long day at the office. Speaking of office, I actually now have air conditioning. I’ve spent the last two years sweating in my office year round, and now? It’s truly great to have a nice temperature at work. Thank you, lovely hard-working campus Physical Plant people!!

So – quite a busy weekend ahead and it’s busy-fun! Great combination to have!

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Cliff Notes of England Trip…

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HMS Belfast, Royal Navy vessel in WWII.

As mentioned, our trip to England was lovely. Weather in England was wonderful (for us). It was cloudy, cold, and rainy which, after the endless summer here in Texas, was a treat. Gloves. Rain coat. The whole thing. Bliss. I did notice that people in London only wear shades of black, grey/gray, or dark blue so my bright pink raincoat stood out a bit. 🙂 No worries. I embraced “being American” (as usually these are the people wearing really bright colors in UK), and I got to stay nice and dry under that colorful exterior.

The flight to the UK ended up being fabulous as, although we bought the cheap seats, the flight was almost empty and so I ended up being able to lie down across three seats the whole way. ZZZZZ. Still, ended up with jet lag and taking a nap about 4p the first day, but wow. What a difference a sleeping flight can be! I’ve flown back and forth across the Atlantic regularly for 30+ years, but this “being able to sleep across a whole row” thing has happened only a few times so I really appreciate it when it does. Hooray for traveling off-season.

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The River Ouse in Bedford, England. We spent a lot of our childhood messing around on the river (a la Toad and Mole).

The first few days were spent in Bedford, the town in which I grew up and where my lovely mum still lives. Lots of memories for me as we wandered around and down by the river (see right-hand pic), and for the first day or two, the streets seemed to be like Toy Town as they were so much smaller than the streets in Texas! Got used to that pretty quickly though, but did keep on having to remember to “Look Left” instead of right when we were crossing the roads.

When we finally arrived in London (where my brother and family live), we had a really in-depth tour of the Houses of Parliament, and I think I finally have the House of Lords vs. House of Commons sorted out now. (Only taken 50 years!) I also learned a ton about the HoP which I didn’t before, so thanks to a good guide (and a former teacher), we had a good time. Did have to have a cup of tea to recover after that though. 🙂

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The Queen’s Coronation Carriage.

Another place that we visited was the Royal Mews, which is where the Queen’s horse-drawn carriages (pic above) are kept and the horses looked after. We’d never been before, so it was really interesting to walk around and see all the carriages in the collection.

Visited the British Library (which was a joy), and saw some of their treasures there (including an original copy of the Magna Carta [sort of the British Constitution] and one of the journals from Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to Antarctica. (Really interesting as I’m reading Volume 2 of the diaries of the men who were on that 1910-1913 trip and who returned in one piece.) Collection pieces ranged from ancient music texts to the original draft of some Beatles music to more up to date stuff, and if you’re ever in the range of the British Library, I really recommend a stop there. You won’t regret it.

Saw my Favorite Uncle Peter (:-)) who took us to a historical clothing exhibition at the Barbican (fascinating) and then out to dinner (yummy). Visited HMS Belfast, a WWII naval ship permanently lodged on the river, and walked across the top level of the famous Tower Bridge. (Well worth doing. It has a glass floor and a mirror ceiling as part of the visit, and this was really discombobulating for lots of people including me. Very fun though. (Check out the pic just below the Tower Bridge pic below. I’m taking the photo looking up into the mirror which is then reflecting the view down [where you can see the traffic]…)

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Got to hang out with my bro and see where he works (University College of London). They have a long tradition of bringing the mummified corpse of the founder (Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux ) to various special meetings and then keeping him in a glass case when he’s not working. Hilarious. Heard my bro play blue grass at a pub with some friends of his, and really just had a good time.

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The UCL Founder’s mummified corpse who actually attends meetings every now and then.

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And maybe, just maybe, brought back some Jaffa Cakes (above) and other pieces of deliciousness that I couldn’t live without… 🙂

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Speaking of food, we went into a McDonalds for a drink, and saw this sign where one can order a meal using the Welsh language and others. (The “Cymraeg” button in the middle.)

Watched three movies on the plane on the way back. (Just couldn’t get into reading for some reason, but that’s ok.) I regrettably watched the recent Absolutely Fabulous movie (but I wish I could get that time back, to be honest). Then I watched Enough Said (which was fun and poignant), and then one more which I can’t seem to remember… Still, a fun way to pass the time if you have to sit down in one place for ten hours (as one does when one is flying from UK to US).

So, had a nice time and really recommend traveling to UK in the off season. (Admittedly, some of the sights do close in October, but there is so much other stuff to do, that it really doesn’t matter much…)

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The Weekend in Review…

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(Above) – The tree under which I was reading. If you look closely, you might be able to see some dry brown seed pods amongst the leaves. When there is a gentle breeze, these pods rustle with the leaves, and makes a really relaxing sound. Hooray for Sundays!

It was a fun weekend. I’m not sure it could be said that we did a whole lot, but that was also one of the reasons why it was so lovely. The weather has suddenly become autumnal here on the South Plains, and so the light has become crisper and the colors are finally becoming reds, oranges, and brown (although not, perhaps, in the pic above!). I do love autumn in a million different ways, so it’s definitely my favorite season.

I spent yesterday sitting outside in an open space on campus right by the library. Just reading away whilst a nice breeze brought the temps down from 87 degrees (on the thermometer) to something much cooler than that. I’m really lucky to have such pleasant places to go to outside. It’s quiet (generally). No traffic. Not much foot traffic, and under a huge blue sky. Lovely way to spend some time.

I’d been feeling that I hadn’t been reading that much lately, so made a concerted effort to make that part of the weekend. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed doing that. I think I’d just got busy and tired, and went for the activity of least resistance: Narcos TV show on Netflix. Wow. Pablo Escobar was (is?) a ruthless man. I’m wondering how true it is.

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Speaking of versions of “true”, I’m interested in watching the biopic about Dr. Dre. I’m not really a huge hip-hop kinda person, but ever since watching Straight Outta Compton, I’ve become pretty interested in the culture and major players. It’s a very different world than the one in which I live, so I’m inquisitive about that. It’s very far removed from my everyday life!

Back to books: Had great fun reading. I’m trying to read more of my own books (HA!) and was doing really well until the library called this morning with an ILL. I did it to myself though, and if it’s an ILL it means that the title is going to be a good one, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll let you know what it is when I pick it up, mainly because I can’t remember what I ordered so it’ll be a surprise for all of us!

I’m not sure that I’m going to get a blog post up about the Kennedy book that I read the other day (The Ladies of Lyndon). It was good, but not notable really (and I say that as I can only remember very vague things about the plot).

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I did read a cheap print of a graphic novel of Dracula by Bram Stoker. It was one of those cheapo Barnes and Noble books, and at first, I wasn’t sure that I could keep reading it. The art wasn’t that great, and I kept thinking I’d rather go back and read the original. (It’s one of my fav books.) But then something clicked, and the book and I got on really well from then on. I do have to admit that the graphic novel was more scary than the actual book. Maybe I’m a visual person in how I read as I don’t remember being so scared at the novel itself. Whatever triggered that reaction, I was glad that I was reading it out in the open under a sunny sky when I was reading it. Some of those comic panels were actually rather frightening – more so than the book. Weird how that can be, huh?

(For a more substantive review of the original Dracula, I have a post here.)

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Original movie poster from 1975.

Finished up a quick re-read of The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. An old book from 1972 (nicely filling a spot on my Century of Books project), I thoroughly enjoyed this read although I did have to jump over the truly sexist comments that mark the second third of the story. If you haven’t read this, it’s a spec fiction (perhaps) about a family who move into the community of Stepford. The mother in this family is proud to be a Women’s Lib supporter and is rather horrified when all the wives around her were only focused on domestic duties and being subordinate to their husbands in obvious ways. Why was this? Was she the only one? Then she meets a friend, similar to her, and wonders if she too will change… Does she? You’ll have to find out. It was a spooky read with lots to think about so expect a chatty blog post about that soon. (As an aside, check out this slightly strange website. I have to hope it’s a joke.)

I’m not 100% sure what the next title will be, but it may well be straight non-fiction. I’ve only read fiction this month (which is strange for me). It’s been great fun though, so perhaps I’ll keep on that streak. Who knows? I won’t until I browse my TBR shelves and also find out about that ILL. The suspense, my friends… I’ll let you know.

Where’ve I been?

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Wow. I had no idea that time could whip by so quickly.

I’ve been awarded a big work promotion (which is great), but it is taking a lot of my time to get things squared away. I normally have at least some time to work on my blog, and I will in the future. It’s just right now there’s a lot on my plate work-wise.

Posts will continue as I really enjoy doing my blog. It just might be a few more days until a proper blog post gets up.

Hang tight. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Thanks!

Movie Madness

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Going to the movies is quite rare with me most of the time. I’d rather read the book, and it has to be something special to get me to pay full price and spend all that time to watch it. However, recently, a good friend has introduced me to Half-Price Tuesdays, and that (along with a spate of good movies) has pulled me back onto the Movie Groove.

So what have I been seeing? Well, not blockbusters, I’ll tell you that. I am pretty picky about not getting a predictable story line, and with a lot of Hollywood writers, they love predictable. I know it’s going to be a flat story if I can forecast what will happen in the first 20 minutes – not because I am so great and perceptive, but only because the narrative is going to be so banal.

So – there have been some movies that have made the cut recently and they’ve been really good. As a change from books, I thought I’d do a movie post…

amourSo, first up:  Amour (French drama with subtitles, 2012). This was a moving and pretty serious movie about what happens to an elderly married couple when one of them has a serious medical event. Their lives are tested in ways that would test anyone, and although it’s not an easy movie to watch, it’s a good one. Another interesting factoid: there is absolutely no sound track to this – no background music at all, not even for the credits. Probably not the best idea for the cinema management to put it next door to another movie theater with loads of explosions and bass, but still – enjoyed the movie.

versaillesSecond up, The Queen of Versailles (documentary, 2012). This was a really interesting documentary which followed a family who started out incredibly wealthy, had more money than they knew what to do with (husband was in real estate/time-share), and then Wall Street crash hit. They had been in the process of building the biggest house in America, 90,000 square feet with something like 30 bathrooms. Why? Because they could. And then the crash. It was fascinating to watch the husband suddenly become more humble about things. He was insufferable before and then BAM. Not enough money (although they don’t sell their current huge mansion to cover costs). They downsize their staff and this shows their true colors – slobs (since used to someone cleaning up after them) and poor dog owners as dogs poop all over the house which no one picks up. Bleugh.  The reference to Versailles is that their new house under construction was influenced and based on Versailles in France. I tried not to have Schadenfreude but it was hard. This also reminds that the new version of The Great Gatsby will be coming out soon. Looking forward to seeing that as it actually looks better than the book (for once). Not a huge fan of Fitzgerald, as misguided as that may be.

quartetThird up, Quartet (English drama, 2012). This has some heavy hitters in it (Dame Maggie Smith for one) and revolved around a retirement home for former professional musicians. This was not as good as I had hoped for, but that might have been as I am not such a huge fan of opera (which is what this movie revolved around). Good character studies and lovely scenery though and I was impressed with Billy Connolly who has come a long way from being a shock comedian back in the day.

So – we’ll see how much more movie madness comes along. I’m not sure what’s out and who knows what’s coming out, so a little research is in order, methinks. It’s fun right now.