I can't believe

• that I just purchased the soundtracks to High School Musical and Enchanted. I swear its for work!!
  
• that my nephew (or nephlette as I call him) could be here any day
• that I have a growing collection of 1st and 2nd grade scarves. I'm starting to receive them daily.
• it's raining...which means our class won't be able to practice our parachute dance routine. Yes, you read that correctly! A PARACHUTE DANCE ROUTINE! And don't mess with me! I'm a serious parachute choreographer now! To you guessed it, music from above.
• that a guy brought his pet snake into the grocery store the other day. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THIS? I can't take my dogs or the cattle I somehow now own into the meat section, so YOU CAN'T EITHER! I looked at Chelsie and asked why she let him in. She looked at me like seriously, you expect me to ask him, with a huge boa, to leave! No.
• I'm now obsessed with the Tudor period. Not the menstrual period that was so loudly asked about in silent reading yesterday. She was pointed to the dictionary where we could silently discuss the meaning. I'll admit my composure was flawless when the question came half way through a gulp of tea. The joys of teaching....
  

BTT: Playing Editor

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if _________________.

I don't really know how to respond to this question. Yes there are thousands of poorly written books in the market but a ready example doesn't jump to my mind. One aspect of editing that I've recently come to loathe is how a book is sold. Editors or marketers, whoever is responsible for this, have done an excellent job of selling me books that are not what I thought they were. For this I have several non-fiction examples.

I like to garden and cook. After growing twenty-one heirloom tomato plants last summer I thought it would be nice to buy The Tomato Festival Cookbook which promises 150 recipes AND tips on growing the best heirloom varieties. While there are lots of recipes I don't find them realistic because even I don't have the amount of ripe tomatoes to make them. Who has three pounds of ripe tomatoes gathering in their kitchen at one time? The tips on growing are ones any basic gardener should already know. Nothing new and thus nothing exciting. So I bought another cookbook that I most likely will never use and should just give away.

I purchased The Sexual Organization of the City for research purposes thinking it would be about any city. It's not. It is focused around Chicago and is more on interpersonal relationships than the sex market which I was hoping the focus would be around. I guess I should have read the description more carefully, but no mention of Chicago-based was mentioned at the time I bought it. The book is interesting, just not what I was hoping for.

Planet of Slums by Mike Davis reads like one long demographic study. I feel as if I'm reading the same things in every chapter too. I would have enjoyed more social dynamics, personal stories and breaks in the statistics. I enjoy facts but not in the manner Davis has presented them.

I was a Women's Studies major in college so I enjoy reading women's history probably more so than other people. The American Women Activists' Writings: An Anthology, 1637-2002 is a disappointment though. It promises to cover a range activist subject matter however I feel that it does not. Some of the activists', such as Abigail Adams, entries are excerpts from their diaries or letters to family members that don't necessarily showcase their activism. It takes away from these women's work and the meaning of activism.

I could probably come up with other examples but I'll stop. I don't think I would ever want to play editor-in-chief but I would like to make sure books are more appropriately labeled.

Concert experience #419 Gogol Bordello

Last night Farmer Ted and I went to a concert. It was our first concert since the concert of utter disaster last December when we saw Tool with our friend The Drummer. We saw Tool in the Idaho Center which is probably the crappiest place in Idaho to see a show. When we arrived we could already tell they were severely over serving alcohol which isn't the best idea for a metal/rock show. We found our seats which were two rows from the back wall and quickly realized that the five dudes sitting behind us were extremely drunk, and the opening band had not yet started. I was not happy. By the third Tool song I had beer poured down my back and decided to stand so that I wouldn't have it spilled on my head. Let's face it, that wouldn't be the best combo with an already soaking sweatshirt. Farmer Ted tried to sarcastically suggest that beer should go into the belly and not the floor but I don't think they heard. It didn't matter much since I was already in bitch mode. It was the beginning of a long night of standing, of yelling, of scaring everyone around me and of having to do everything on my own since The Drummer and Farmer Ted did not want to fight five drunk dudes. About six songs in more beer was spilled and the cigarettes came out! So we were ashed on. No, let me rephrase that, we became THE ashtray. At this point I again let my wrath out and the drunken a$$hole claimed he wasn't smoking when in fact he was so drunk he couldn't see his cigarette in his hands and his friend bent over backward to apologize. It wasn't working. About another song later he started falling on me and I had had enough so I let it all out and they shut up. None of the five dudes could look at me. They were pretending not to be with their drunken friend. It was around this time that their mohawk friend came back and heartily said "aren't you glad he doesn't have any more beer!" to which I replied, "I'd be happier if he didn't have any more F*#$%#@ing cigarettes!" He was embarrassed, shocked that I was that angry and shut up. Just because we're at the same concert does not make us friends. And just because you have a mohawk doesn't make me fear you. I went to the Prom with a mohawked dude. Meanwhile, Farmer Ted and The Drummer are still just sitting there most likely pretending not to know me. Things settled down for the most part. And I am grateful that he chose to piss and vomit against the wall and not on me. I still had to hear it, smell it and see it though. It was the worst concert experience ever and I've been to many shows over the years.

So we decided it was time to try the show scene again and one of our favorite bands came through last night, Gogol Bordello. It was the best $17.50 show I've seen. They played their asses off, the energy was crazy and the dancing sublime. The opening act, Skindred, was also incredible! We had so much fun and we didn't have any drunken a$$holes to deal with. Gogol Bordello played for two+ straight hours and the encore was unbelievable! All on a Sunday night! It was crazy. It was fabulous!

FF: 182

Appetizer

If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?

Queen Elizabeth II. I think it would be absolutely fabulous to rummage through her belongings, tour her castles and drink her tea. I also think it would be somewhat relaxing and she always has loads of dogs to please her. I would not be bored, that's for sure!

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

1

Salad

Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).

Amnesty International, Idaho Youth Ranch, YWCA, Idaho Food Bank and Idaho WCA--all are current donations.

Main Course

What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

Easy, sushi. And I've done it while living in Tokyo.

Dessert

Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

Yep. Farmer Ted and I both did at the smack dab start of the year. It was horrible and I wouldn't want to wish it on any of you!

BTT Hero

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character?

Hmm....I'll admit that if I read fiction it usually has lead female characters for me or that the men don't stand out. I had to resort back to my library for some responses. So, I suppose these aren't truly favorite characters, but enjoyable male characters. One of the more recent characters is Amir in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I liked his internal struggle, his humanity, and adult thought process. It was a worthwhile read. I have always liked Old Jules by Mari Sandoz. Jules, her father, is such an asshole but he reminds me of my own father--so I could relate to the character. In fact, anyone with a conflicted father-daughter relationship might be able to relate.

I found fascinating the unnamed narrator in Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The short novel starts out, "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." How is this not interesting! He is one of the least engaging first-person narrators I've ever encountered. He's insipid and silly and has spent much of his life, as well as his modest nest egg, frequenting prostitutes. What are we to make of this lifelong bachelor who's never been in love and who actually likes to pay for sex? He comes off as a typical dirty old man and leering pedophile who now wants to call his friendly madam to request a young virgin over whom he can exert complete mastery. Of course, almost any type of person can be made interesting in a work of fiction, no matter how weird or banal or repellent he might seem at first glance.

And, I've enjoyed the life of Harry Potter. I don't think I have to say much about his character as it is known worldwide.

Musical Musings

My friend Jeffrey is always sending me new music to check out. His latest was on Erykah Badu's new album New Amerykah Part One. I have to say that I find the music video for "Honey" creative in the sense that it takes me back to MTV 1991 for some reason. I'm not sure if I like the song and have yet to listen to the rest of her album but I do like the mellow sound.

The last time Jeffrey sent me music it was M.I.A., who is playing Sasquatch this year with a bunch of other awesome bands. M.I.A. has grown on me. I love the chorus to Paper Planes. And I'm thinking I should see her live. I also secretly wish I could get away with wearing spandex and converse together.

Before tonight's results

There is an interesting piece titled, A Letter from Feminists on the Election in the current Nation. I enjoyed reading it however I saw a lot of rainbows and unicorns dancing in the background. It's not that I'm against what these feminists are saying, it's more that I'm cautious of their reactive stance. Where was this discussion a year ago? Yes, Clinton and Obama have had to downplay their gender and race but there has a been a rift in the women's movement for awhile now and frankly, I rarely hear it being discussed by these same feminists. Again, like so many moments in the past twenty years, certain feminists are acting reactively versus being proactive. Could they not meet more frequently?