Day 62 - a long awaited update

So... while I didn't necessarily fail, at the same time my new singleness prevents me from completing a few of the goals that I have set out. Therefore, no. 47, no. 25, and no. 93 are on hiatus... or will be replaced when I come up with a suitable alternative. And I'm trying to figure out if I need a replacement for him in my "100 things that make me happy" as I'm actually angry at him...

.... boys are stupid.

Also, I need to sit down and type up a whole bunch of stuff, I've gone to NC since this write up and devoured a whole slew of books...

So.. let's see what I've done.
No. 63 - When we went to Georgia, we went to the beach... TWICE. So that one is COMPLETE !

No 22 - In Progress. I know this one seems like something that either I do or I don't... I do yoga and I'm alone or I'm not. I did do yoga today. There was no one in my house. I made sure all the doors were locked and I put myself in a room where I could observe most everything that was going on. But while I went through the motions, I don't think I was in the proper mental state for this goal to be considered completed. I was unable to clear my mind as I often find myself able to do. Also, I (in a way) rushed through the exercises, holding each pose for only 5 breaths as opposed to the normal 10-15 breaths that I do. I also did not repeat them as often. So... In Progress.

No. 26 - Taico - Cookville, TN - Before we went to the wedding, Aaron needed a hair cut, so he asked me to drive to Cookville and "supervise" the cut. He ended up with less than half the hair he started with. It looks good. Afterwards, we checked out a new sushi restaurant that Eric had been raving about. It was really good. We got a roll called "Cookville" and another called "Smoky Mountain". I couldn't tell you what was in them, but I know that one had scallops. (like that helps ;-) )

Crawdaddy's - Cookville, TN - This week, Aaron asked me to come up to Cookville and spend some time up there with him. Unfortunatly, that time ended with him deciding that I "annoy the crap out of" him. Long story, and I don't care to repeat it. But the evening before that confession, we changed his headlight. Well, actually...
We went to Walmart and bought the light. We drove downtown to go get some food, and when we parked, the light was still good, so he thought that he would see what replacing the light would entail. and maybe take care of it there. Well, when you're in a small downtown and your hood is up and you and another are dressed in sorta nice clothes... if someone who knows cars sees you they think you're in trouble. So this guy on a bike pops up "Hey, you need help, I been a mechanic for 27 years." "We're good, we just wanted to take care of this headlight before it gets dark." "Well here, I'll do it for you." So... we go to replace it... it's the wrong one, the guy says, I'll wait for you. We drive to the autostore. While he was helping us, he told us his "life story."

He was a mechanic in Cali, and his boss became a father to him. The boss had stopped one night to help a family stuck on the side of the road. Said boss gets sideswiped by a drunk driver. This mechanic was not allowed to go to the boss's funeral (by Boss's family) because he was a long haired hippy living out of a hearse (there's a new one). So he paid his respect to his boss after the funeral, asking the boss and God (this was the moment he found Jesus) what he should do now. His boss was dead, his job was done, he had no family, he had half a tank of gas and a couple dollars. He couldn't stand the thought of bumming. So he heads out of town in his hearse trying to find a new place to work, promising to continue the boss's altruistic work of helping people on the road. He's on his last dollar and the gas tank is on E. On the side of the road is a car with a flat. He stops, helps the folks and sets on his way. They stop him and give him 20$. And that way, he drove all around the country before settling in Cookville, TN with a wife and a two year old. A few things in that story strike me as funny... as in, how did he end up sedentry enough for a wife and a two year old and currently has no job.... but it was a good story, the headlight works, and he got $10 out of it.

So the restaurant... it was a New Orleans themed place. The food was good, I had a crawfish po'boy. Yum. It was also $1 draught nights... so we had a few beers.

No. 41 - Learn to do a headstand/handstand. While doing yoga, one of the reverse positions I chose to do is actually titled "handstand" It's not the type of head/hand stand that I mean in the goal, though. In this one, you walk up the wall and keep your legs at a right angle to your body. But - it's a start.

No. 42 - In progress... I've been trying to meet new people who *aren't* archaeologists, or spouses of them. No offense to archy's, but I want some people I can hang out with who aren't tied to the industry. So far, I hang out with Eric (who I'm meeting other new people through), Claire, Jessica, and I joined a book club that Claire has been a member of. The bookclub is apparently fickle, so we're rebuilding the membership. I wanted to see what else there was to do, and with this goal, I had hoped to do something involving ballroom dancing. Then I remembered that I had wanted to do bellydancing back a few years, but Justin had continually prevented me from signing up. So I pushed that to the back of my mind. While in Cookville, I used the internet and found some instructors in Knoxville. I've heard from two studios and I have a friend who also wants to take lessons, so we'll see what we can do.

No. 48 - PS - I finally got a start date for work, so these will slow down... immensly
The Road - Cormac McCarthey
CMC wrote "No Country for Old Men" and The Road is just as depressing. It follows a father and son as they attempt to find other people. The world is some strange post-apocalyptic environment. It's Earth, specifically the mid-Atlantic seaboard. Everything is dead and dried. Plants are dead and the sky is ash. People, however, are also dead. So why is the sky ashy and so many people dead? He never answers...

Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
This book was the book club book for this month. It was rather ok. Very very much a "fun" book. Basically, it outlines the King Arthur myths, but seen through the eyes of the females. Mostly, Morgaine's point of view is used, but Igraine, Morgaus, Nimue, Gwehnyphar, and Vivian are also featured as the readers' "eyes." There's alot of sex. Also, bunches of deceit. And where people aren't screwing or screwing over, they're eating. Tied into all of this, however, is a constant struggle between the Old Religion (The Goddess, Druids, Faerie) and Christianity. King Arthur was not important merely because he and his knights did great and wonderful things. Instead, the book puts Arthur's fame and legendary status as a side-effect from his rule during the transition of the Old to the new and how he handled the transition.

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
I borrowed this book from Aaron and finished it in about a day. I ::heart:: Vonnegut. His SciFi take is always uncanny, as if it is more of a plot device than the actual genre he decided the book to fit in. This book follows the main character's seemingly schitzophrenic life... which is explained earlier in the book that he is actually travelling through time because all time is one... especially for creatures able to percieve in the fourth dimension. The main character is seen growing up, being married, serving in WW2 (particularly the firebombing of Dresden) and his career afterwards.

Practical Demonkeeping - Christopher Moore
I borrowed this book from Mandy... I need to remember to give it back to her. Christopher Moore seems to be odd. In this book, the simple small tourist town of Pine Grove, where everybody knows everyone, ends up being where one of Hell's most ambitious minions (and it's master) ends up on its 70 year road trip. The king of Djinn (who has a salt and Marx Brothers addiction) shows up, and recruits to defeat Catch (the demon) a drunk photographer, a wine store owner, the town ecentric, and the ancient bar matron with her baseball bat. They end up having to challenge the town's Pagan Vegetarians for Peace along the way, and the demon eats the town's drug dealer just as the police were about to run a sting on him (so now they become involved in finding The Breeze). All this in less than 250 pages... and more!

Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
This massive book (about 800) pages was found at the used book store. I figured that at 7$, its entertainment value would be a good bargain. Plus Neil Gaimen was praising it on the dust jacket. So I took it home and started reading it. And promptly put it away. The next two months consisted of me pulling the book out now and again and forcing myself through a few pages in that sitting. Then I reached a point, somewhere between page 150 and page 200... and the actual story started. At that point, the book was done within the end of the next week.
The book is about the reawakening of magic in Britain. There are two main magicians in Britain, the old, pretentious, easily manipulated Mr. Norrell who feels magic should be exclusive, and the young rakish (faithfully married) dashing adventurous Johnathan Strange. Strange was originally a student of Norrell, but as they each practiced and took different assignments (Norrell protected the coast of Britain from damage by storms, Strange ran around with Duke Wellington and helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo) their view of magic changes. Suddenly, something bad happens, and they both need to cope with it. Oh Noes!
All in all, it was a good book. The author writes in the laborious 19th century style, and in the process makes fun of it with her excessive use of footnotes to expound upon magical references, cite events, and further explain the back story of some notable, some referring back to footnotes that weren't present. One footnote was 4 pages of miniscule type long. A good piece of self-effacing british fantasy.



No. 56 - I sent an email to my brother talking about the wedding in Georgia that Aaron and I went to. I also asked him how he was doing as he was obliquely in the newspaper. Last weekend there was an article about "18 injured 1 dead in bomb blast" and that was the building he was in. He responded that he's just fine, but he went back in to help after he got some of the injured out, so now he's up for an award/medal/commendation. As Eric said "Damn, that boy's never going to have a problem with the girls now."