Month: January 2014

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Checked Out: Week 2

casual-vacancy-cover-art-hi-resI read a lot of books, and on any given day I’m probably carrying around two or three books with me. In fact, I’m in a library right now, sitting at a table with a book on it (I brought the book here). The book I have with me is Teardrop, by Lauren Kate, and if you recall, I discussed it in last week’s “Checked Out.” I actually haven’t gotten too far in it because I’ve been caught up in two other books at the moment, but I brought it with me because I want to play catch up.

People are usually surprised when I tell them I read more than one book at a time, and routinely at that. They wonder how I don’t get confused with characters or with plots, and I honestly don’t know how I do it. Maybe some of you out there are the same way, but it takes me probably a couple of minutes to get back into a plot and I’m all set. The only way it doesn’t work that way is if I’ve “paused” a book and then I come back to it a long time later. And that’s because odds are that I’ve been through a lot more plots and characters in a multitude of books in-between.

It happened to me last week when I got back into The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling. I hadn’t read the book in about three months and I was thoroughly lost at the spot where my bookmark was. When I get caught in that type of situation I take a deep breath and just go back to the part that makes sense to me and read forward from there. I hardly ever let books lie like that, but sometimes life intercedes. I know. I said the “L” word.

Then there’s the one thing that can make me stop all other books on the spot, when one of my “Top” authors releases a new book and I’m lucky enough to get it from the library or someone gives it to me as a gift shortly after it is released. That happened this week when I bought the new Laurie Halse Anderson book, The Impossible Knife of Memory, with a gift card I received from my mom for my birthday. Oh yeah, and I  bought it electronically to read on my Nook. The horror. Continue reading “Checked Out: Week 2”

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Chatting with Arsenio*

Interviewer: So, now that you’ve won The Celebrity Apprentice, how are you going to use your “newfound” fame?” Arsenio*: I’ve thought a lot about it, you know, and I’m going to revive my show. Interviewer: Um, well, don’t you have any higher aspirations? Arsenio: Like what? Interviewer: Like a new blockbuster movie or something? Arsenio: … Continue reading Chatting with Arsenio*

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Falling Ash

Searing heat Raining down like fire Burning me clean From the inside out Scalding water Steam rising high Clouding the room Blocking daylight out Like falling ash And the promise of death Buried underground As cold as ice Spirit rising high Stretching thin Snapping mortal constraints Hurtling away at speed Dancing with the wind Never … Continue reading Falling Ash

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Sunday Shuffle

He really did love that trash.

Music has been such a huge part of my life since as far back as I can remember, from eight track tapes, to 45s, to audio cassettes, to CDs, and now to the digital files on my iPod. My first record was “I Love Trash,” the ubiquitous single by Oscar the Grouch, a floppy record that I kept worrying would tear so I handled it carefully while placing it on the phonograph machine. Eventually I wore it out playing it so much, but I really did love that song.

“And this is my mixed tape for her. It’s like I wrote every note with my own fingers.” -Jack’s Mannequin

The first mixed tape I ever got from a girl had “Here’s Where the Story Ends” on it, and I just knew that I would have never heard that song if it weren’t for that mixed tape. Even now I think back to it, and I think that the song meant so much to that girl (whose name I since forget) that she had to put it on a tape for me. And I think about what the songs I love say about me. Which ones I would put on a mixed tape for someone else now. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. Choose your soundtrack well. With that in mind, I’m firing up the ol’ iPod again. Listen with me, why don’t you? Shuffling…

1. Anything Goes – Melanie C

“In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. But now, God knows, anything goes.”

2. Uncle Jonny – The Killers

“When everybody else refrained, my Uncle Jonny did cocaine. He’s convinced himself right in his brain that it helps to take away the pain.”

3. You So Fire – Usher

“Girl you’re so hot you burn everything in sight. You’re so fire.”

4. Lemon [Perfecto Mix] – U2

“She wore lemon to color in the cold, grey night. She had heaven, and she held on so tight.”

5. Going Back – Phil Collins

“Let everyone debate the true reality. I’d rather see my world the way it used to be. A little bit of courage is all we lack, so catch me if you can ’cause I’m going back.” Continue reading “Sunday Shuffle”

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New York to California

“No mountain’s too high. No stone is too small. I’ll build a bridge through the fire. For you I would crawl from New York to California.” -Mat Kearney Have you ever felt this way about another person? I know, it’s easy to say you have, but did you ever take the time to truly consider … Continue reading New York to California

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Freewrite #8

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Now? Now? How about now?

I’ll tell you a secret. Now, you can’t tell a living soul because I would be absolutely mortified if anyone ever found this out about me. Okay, good. Here it is. Sometimes I’m awkward. You know, socially. Sometimes I walk into a room and see three separate groups sitting in three separate areas. So I sit all the way on the other side of the room by myself, hoping one of the three groups reaches out to me and makes me feel warm and safe in their cocoon. Otherwise, I bury my head in the book I always have along so I don’t seem like a pathetic idiot (um, yeah) and count the minutes until I can get back up and exit the room. Usually, though, one of the groups reels me in and I feel loved. Yeah, that’s all it takes.

It’s not like I don’t feel comfortable in social situations. For the most part I do, but there’s this in-between area when I’m uncertain of what’s expected of me, times when I feel like Sheldon Cooper and I have no idea what others are trying to say or do, or what they want from ME. And I hate that, that uncertainty. I deal in absolutes so much of the time that when there’s ambiguity I freeze up. Why do I do that? I’m sure others are judging me too when I do this, shaking their heads and whispering about me behind my back. “Why can’t he just understand?” “What’s up with him?” “He seemed pretty cool before.”

Then I start thinking about this mysterious “before.” When was I actually cool? Continue reading “Freewrite #8”