Best of 2014

As I lay in bed this morning and contemplated coffee, I also thought about how I would be remiss in my duty as a blogger if I didn't do a year in review.

Back when we had cable, RNews had some sort of poet do a year-in-review poem * every year. I thought the poems were pretty wretched, as the rhyme was forced and the commentary about politics a little too cheeky for my taste. I know there are many people out there who disagree with my assertion regarding these poems.

So, I'm coming up with my own poem about 2014:

It's the end of two-oh-one-four
The year kinda sucked
Some things happened;
 some good, some rough
2015 will be better (I hope).

Don't worry, dear reader. I'm not quitting my day job to be a full-time poet.

As a librarian and an avid reader, I would be remiss if I didn't do a best-of book list for the last day of the year. There are two books that I really feel were my "Best Reads of 2014":

1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole. Yes, I know this didn't come out in 2014. However, it was one of the two best books I read this year. I loved the characterization and the humor. I still giggle to myself when I think of Ignatius J. Reilly's plan for the labor protest at the pants factory. So good.

2. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King. THIS book. WOW. This book changed my life.** It is in my top five favorite books of all times.

Dear reader, I would love to know what are your Best Books You Read in 2014. Leave a comment.

Happy New Year!

*Link follows to this year's poem. You're welcome.

** I'm not going into how right now, but just know it made a huge impact on me.

Why My Cats Could Be Characters in a Tolstoy Novel

A few years ago, one of my students decided that for the new year, she was going to read one chapter of Tolstoy's War and Peace every day. "There are 365 chapters of War and Peace and there are 365 days in a year," she told me. This sounded manageable, so I immediately decided that this would be my New Years' Resolution, too.

Like all of my resolutions, this was short-lived. I think I got maybe a quarter of the way into the book before I gave up, not because I didn't like it, but just because I got ennui. Anyway, while I was reading War and Peace, I thought to myself that my cats could be characters in the novel because, like Tolstoy's characters, each of my cats has many names.

Lucy Belle

Our cat, Lucy, has had many names in the four years she's lived with us. When she was dropped off to our house, she was Lucy Belle. She then became "Lucy Belle Bongo" for a short time, "Lucy Smells", when she did something bad in her litter box and "Lucifer" when she was naughty. Somehow, her name has morphed to be "Lulu Jones,"* which sounds like a character from a 70s action flick. 

On occasion, I call this particular cat "Cheese Girl" because she has a meow that sounds like the squeak from a fresh cheese.

An old picture of Truman Capote. She looks so resigned.

Truman Capote, our other cat, usually goes by "Trumie" because it takes a lot of effort to call "Truman Capote" when you need to see the cat. 

When I was reading War and Peace, I made up a story about how the cat was actually a countess during the Bolshevik Revolution and had to flee Russia with her diamonds sewn in the the hem of her dress to start a new life in another country. ** So, I decided her name would be "Madame Trumaniski". This became "Comrade Trumaniski" for some reason; then "Minski" because...well, just because. "Minski" became "Minced Meat" because they sound similar and then "Minced Meat" became "Meat" because it is shorter. 

So, I call this particular animal "Meat Girl" and tell her that she "is made of meat."

The sad fact about the Meat Girl is that she is sixteen, going on seventeen years old.*** My husband and I think that she might have feline dementia because she walked into the bathroom one day and meowed angrily at the toilet for a few minutes. Mark researched feline dementia online. One of the symptoms of feline dementia is the cat will sleep a lot. We can't tell if she really is demented because she always has slept, like, 20 hours a day. She could just be old and tired. Anyway, she comes when I call out either "Meat Girl" or "Truman", so she has some awareness.

I still have a good five days left of Christmas break. I think I may start to rewrite War and Peace and feature my cats as the main characters.

*My son and I sing "Lulu Jones" to the Counting Crows "Mr. Jones".

** Yes, I know War and Peace takes place during the Napoleonic Wars. It's just a story I made up for no particular reason, okay?

*** My kid read this post and said that I needed to make sure my readers knew this was a reference to The Sound of Music.

Eh, Call it a Comeback

My husband bought me the Hyperbole and a Half book for Christmas.* Before this morning when I woke up before everyone else to drink coffee and read my book, all I knew about Hyperbole and a Half was this post.

After reading a quarter of the book this morning and crying from laughter, I felt inspired to resurrect my blog. I feel that the author and I have a lot in common, such as awkward childhoods, stupid pets and a different point of view on situations.

So, thank you, Allie Brosh. And thank you, husband, for getting me an awesome read.

*Mark said the stories he read in the preview on Amazon reminded him of my stories. Coincidentally, my best friend, Amy, also received the book as a Christmas gift from her husband.

On blogging

Hello, dear reader,

I know I haven't posted awhile. First off, I feel like my blog posts are taken mean-spirited, which they are not meant to be. I know I posted about being a bridesmaid--I am truly happy for my sister and honored that she made me a bridesmaid. Anything I post about my family is meant to be in jest. So, I am sorry if I have offended anyone with this blog.

Second, a lot has happened over the past few months and I haven't felt like sharing my introspection with the world. Yes, I've been cutting back on social media in favor of quiet time.  I just don't feel like putting myself out there all the time.

I want to write more. I want to read more. I want to run more. I've been focusing on these things lately.

Will I continue to blog? Yeah, probably in the future. However, right now, I need to take a break from stuff.

Thanks for reading this post.

My favorite and best part of the original Muppet Movie

I may have felt like this recently.

I'M NOT DEAD

I've done some soul-searching over the past few months, though, and decided to change up some things that I write about. Plus, I can't bring myself to do a recap of my sister's wedding, except to say it was what she wanted and I am happy for her.

Expect a book review and some other bookishness up in this space very soon.

On being a bridesmaid

I figure the psychological wounds from being fitted for the bridesmaid's dress have almost healed, so I can post about getting the dress without having to curl up in a fetal position in the corner and weep.

As many of you know from reading the blog or following me on the Facebook or the Twitter, David's Bridal is my personal hell. It's loud, too bright, has too many mirrors and too princess-y. In fact, I hate the whole "bridal industry" for selling women an ideal that they will never obtain. Anyway, I went there to get fitted for a dress for my friend's wedding a few years back. The consultant we had at that time made me feel ugly and unattractive when she pointed out that my arms "look like sausages" and that I am obviously not the "pretty" one in the bridal party. After that incident (which cost a helluva lot of money to have someone call me fat and ugly--I can get that for free), I swore I would never, ever set foot in that store again.

Fast forward to my sister's wedding. I understand why my sister went with David's Bridal; the other bridesmaids live in other states and it makes sense to pick a chain for everyone to get her dress. However, this meant I would have to go back to the place I abhor so much.

So I put it off. I got texts from my sister to go get fitted. I ignored them. Finally, my dad took me out to David's Bridal the Saturday that concluded February Break, as my car was in the shop. As I drove out there, I started to get nervous. What if I didn't fit into anything? What if the consultants told me that I was unworthy to even be in the store because I was so horribly ugly and I couldn't be in the wedding because they would euthanize me for my appearance? Oh, if only I were a better person who only ate tiny portions of vegetables all the time; worked out two hours a day; and didn't drink wine with my friends! These thoughts, dear reader, were going through my head and I HATED myself for it. I hated myself for being my goofy imperfect me and I hated myself for buying into the hype that I let these people tell me that I am unattractive.

Anyway, I waltz into David's Bridal, expecting to try on the dress and get the hell out. No. As it turns out I needed an appointment to be tortured, even though my sister picked out the bridesmaid's dresses MONTHS ago. While I should've had an appointment, I was told, the consultant behind the counter supposed she could squeeze me in for a fitting in an hour.

After tooling around the very awesome art supply store in Southtown, I went back and was allowed to have my fitting. They didn't have my size in stock, so I had the option of getting a size smaller or getting three sizes up, as that was the next biggest. I opted for the smaller size, as I could already imagine how much it would cost to have this thing tailored to fit if it were way too big.

I took the dress into the fitting room, stripped down and tried to put it on myself. The zipper in the back was twisted, so I couldn't do it up. After struggling, I gave up, held the dress up in front to cover myself and opened the door to get someone to help.

I really didn't expect a whole family to be lined up outside the fitting room. As my door opened, 10 pairs of eyes focused on me, as I stood there holding up the dress to cover my topless self. Apparently, the family was with a bride-to-be who was changing in the dressing room next to me. The men of the family had long beards and wore camouflage hats. All I could think is "Great. Duck Dynasty is here to see me naked."

I flagged over a consultant to zip me up. She blamed me for the twisted zipper, which I maintain is NOT my fault, as probably a bunch of other people tried on the dress that day, as I was told "it is a popular style for this year's prom season." She then scurried away.

Notice the forced smile and all my tattoos. I'm not sure the tattoos were taken into account when my sister chose the dress.

The dress fit okay, although, if I tried to do the YMCA or bent over to pick something up, I was totally gonna pop out.

I then spent 15 minutes trapped in the dress, as I couldn't undo the zipper on my own. Finally, I pulled a David's Bridal employee over to help break me out. She informed me that before I was liberated from the gown, I would have to be "measured." I told her I didn't understand why--the damn dress fit! She said that it was procedure and she measured me as I lifted up my arms and such and almost flashed Duck Dynasty. She then asked how I was doing. "Not bad for someone who has lost her dignity," I responded.

After I got back in my street clothes, I went to pay. I found out that my dress will be in on April 21st, which is five days before the wedding. I hope that my body doesn't drastically change before then, as I won't have time to have the thing altered. I shouldn't have procrastinated. I really shouldn't have.

On my way home, I noticed that the junk store which formerly had the pink gorilla suit, had a new costume displayed next to their sandwich board sign.

"I heard it on the grapevine..."

I maintain that it would have been a far better option for me to buy the California Raisin costume and wear that to the wedding. Not only would it have been cheaper, both financially and emotionally, California is kind of like Florida (where my sister is going to marry), so I would be totally in theme. Most importantly, I wouldn't have to worry about flashing people because I would be totally covered.

Hmm...I wonder if David's Bridal will give me a refund.

Reading Friday

It's Reading Friday  Monday on the blog--whoo! My reading goal for the next few months is to read as many books by Teen Book Festival authors in anticipation of the Festival which is May 17th at Nazareth College.

I always envision myself pulling a Chris Farley when he met Paul McCartney with authors when I meet them. I find if I read their books ahead of time, at least I have something to talk about, rather than be all like, "Remember when you wrote a book? That was cool..."

Currently, I am reading Proxy by Alex London. I'm 3/4 of the way through it and I absolutely love it! London creates a believable future where people are indebted from birth in order to afford health care, data streams and education. Syd Carton is a proxy; that is, he is indebted to a rich family. The family has a son Syd's age, named Knox. Whenever Knox misbehaves, Syd is punished. When Knox kills a young woman, Syd is to be punished for the crime. However, circumstances throw both the young men together in an exhilarating plot that has kept me reading past my bedtime each night this week (except last night, when I fell asleep face-first into the book. It has been a rough week.).

I really enjoyed London's character development and watching the relationship between Syd and Knox grow throughout the novel.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel--Guardian--when it is released May 29th. I am also looking forward to fangirling over meeting Alex London at TBF in 74 days!

Reading Friday

Welcome to another installment of Reading Friday! I read two books this past week:

1. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. After reading Rutkoski's interview on the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival blog, I read the ARC of this novel.*

Kestrel is the daughter of a general. She has the choice either to marry or go into her father's army. Kestrel accompanies her friend, Jess, to the town's marketplace during a slave auction. Kestrel is in a heated bidding war with another person over the slave, who is a young man the same age as Kestrel. She wins him after bidding a large sum of money; hence, the winner's curse. Kestrel is fascinated by the slave, Smith (Arin), and wants to know his background. Smith is guarded about how much he lets Kestrel know about himself--he has secrets.

While I was put off by the cover of the book (how many YA books have covers with young ladies suffering from ennui in fancy dresses?), I really enjoyed this book! I especially like Rutkoski's characters; Kestrel is a strong female character who makes mistakes. Smith (Arin), Kestrel's slave, is headstrong and torn between loyalty and romance. Rutkoski's style kept me reading--I had to know what was going to happen next.

The novel ended a bit abruptly, but I believe this is the first in a trilogy. I'm excited to read the next installment.

The Winner's Curse is scheduled to be released on March 4.

2. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

I read this book in less than an hour. Linda Sue Park weaves the stories of two people from South Sudan together. One is Salva Dut, the real-life founder of Water for South Sudan. He is one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan in the 1980s/1990s. The other is Nya, a fictional girl living in a Sudanese village in 2008. Nya walks to the nearest freshwater source for her village every day-- it takes her most of the day walking to fetch water for her family. Through the two narratives, the reader is able to see the war in Sudan and how that has affected the Sudanese people over the past 20 years.

Everyone should read this book. I didn't realize how much the Lost Boys struggled during the war. Although I knew that fresh water is a problem for many people in Africa, I didn't realize the extent of the problem. This book exposed me to lives outside my realm of experiences.

Overall, it was an awesome week for reading!

*NOTE: My friend who went to NCTE picked up the ARC at one of the publisher's tables. I am not compensated in anyway for my book reviews on my blog.

How I Became an Impact Teacher

There are four stages to teaching: fantasy, survival, mastery , and impact. Very few teachers reach the stage of impact teacher; for that is the stage that changes one's students' lives for the better. We've seen popular images of the impact teacher in movies and on TV: Stand and Deliver, Dead Poets Society,* etc.

In the different articles I've read about teaching, the third year is when the new teacher finally feels competent in the classroom. Year five is when the teacher begins on her journey to mastery. Very few teachers make it to the impact stage.

Call me precocious, but it was in my fourth year of teaching that I made an impact on my students.

Before I turned to the "dark side" a.k.a. library science, I was an 11th grade English teacher. The school where I taught had in-house subbing; that is, if a colleague was out, one subbed for him/her during her free period. One of my colleagues, a 10th grade English teacher, was out for the week and I was assigned to sub for one of her classes. Her sub plan was this: Have the student's watch Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.

Mind you, I didn't preview the movie. I assumed the classroom teacher did. In fact, I barely remembered watching parts of the movie when I studied Romeo and Juliet as a 9th grader. I put in the tape, shushed the class and went ahead reading the research papers from my own students.

Throughout the movie, there was an undercurrent of murmuring conversation from the class. They obviously weren't paying attention. Every so often, I would glance up from my papers, shush them and go back to reading.

At one point, the whole class went dead silent. Much like having a toddler, when one hears silence, one knows something is wrong. I glanced up from my paper and got an eyeful of naked butt on the TV screen. I automatically blurted out, "Do not stare at the naked butt!"

This was a tactical error. Blurting out something like "do not stare at the naked butt" to a bunch of 15 year olds is not a wise idea. The class went wild. I fast forwarded the rest of the R&J butt scene, quieted them down and immersed myself back in correcting.

Fast forward a year. The students who were in the class in which I had subbed were now my 11th grade students. I had one particular student who would waddle up to the podium at the beginning of class and say, "Hey, Mrs. R! Remember when you showed us the naked butt last year?"

At first, I tried to deny it by saying I forgot about the butt. After the daily reminders, I finally said, "I didn't show you the butt on purpose. The butt was your teacher's sub plans. Blame your 10th grade teacher for the butt."

Alas, I still got the reminder.

Fast forward to a few years later when I had moved to my present school in my present position. I was talking to one of our teachers. She told me that her next door neighbor was one of my students when I taught ELA 11 and what he remembered most about me was that I showed him a butt.

It's nice to know that I have reached the level of impact teacher.

*One could argue that this also part of the fantasy phase of teaching--where one is going into the classroom, inspiring all the students and changing their lives together. Also, Dead Poets Society will be a post within itself at a later time.

Reading Thursday

I've been quiet the last few days. It's not that I don't have stuff to write about--I've been busy reading (my New Year's Resolution) and am involved in projects at work.

I have tried to do posts called "Reading Friday" which give a rundown of what I've read as of late, but I'm inconsistent. *shrugs* It happens. So I am going to do "Reading Thursday" today. Here's a list of the books I've read since my last reading post:

 

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. If you don't read Terry Pratchett, you should. His characters are hilarious, yet they accurately portray human nature. I loved this book!

Croak by Gina Damico.  Lex Bartelby is shipped off to her uncle's house in the Adirondacks after she caused havoc at her school. Could her behavior have to do with a family trait that Lex shares with her Uncle Mort? A fun read. Gina Damico is going to be at the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival in May.

The Lord of Illusion by Kathryne Kennedy. I'm a sucker for fantasy romances. I read them and then I complain to my husband about them because I get disappointed. While I loved the premise of this book--Elven Lords have taken over England during the Regency era--the plot fell short about 2/3 of the way through. Having said that, I will try another one of the author's books because I enjoy the premise.

Cold Calls by Charles Benoit. Benoit has a gift in writing suspense. I really enjoyed this book because I had to keep reading to see what happens--I kept guessing at what the characters had done and how they would react. Highly recommend for people who like mystery.

So, dear readers, that's my run-down of my reading for the past month.

What are you reading?

My New Years Resolution

I know it's a little late to talk about New Years Resolutions. After all, most people have gone through and quit their resolutions by now.

I believe that the whole thing with resolutions is that you have to set out every day to do them and if you fall off the wagon, you get back on the next day.

So, my resolution is to spend less time online. I will still be blogging, as I see that as a creative outlet, but I am spending less time going through my Facebook newsfeed, my Twitter feed, Pinterest, etc.

And what I am going to do with that time?

*  Read a book. I've often lamented that I don't have enough time to read. I am unplugging and reading more. I can finally catch up on my giant TBR list and the tons of books sitting on my shelves at home.

*Learning new embroidery techniques. I've been cross stitching a lot more. There are some techniques I want to learn.

*Make cards for people. People like receiving hand made cards, I've found.

*Hang out with people--face to face. Instead of being insular and stuck to the screen, I want to see my friends more.

This resolution is going to be difficult; after all, I've spent the last four years of my life scrolling through my news feeds and living vicariously through others. But now it is time that I live my life.

Anyone want to go for coffee?

My Plan Involving Sauna Pants

I finally was able to hang out with my best friend, Amy, yesterday. I hadn't seen her in almost two weeks. She came over for lunch and then we decided to head out to the Shops at West Ridge because we enjoy walking through and giving a running commentary on their stuff. Amy found a particularly small, creepy doll in a display case. The vendor had put the doll in a bag. She claimed that the tiny dolls are the most dangerous because they are so small they can't eat your hair--they eat your eyelashes. That's why it had to not only be locked up, but also put in a bag. This way, it can't get out to chew on your eyelashes while you sleep.

As we were walking through, I updated Amy on my sister's wedding. I don't believe I mentioned it here on the blog--my sister, Katie, is getting married in April. It's a destination wedding in Florida. I'm one of the bridesmaids. Anyhow, as I was telling Amy yesterday, I've put off buying the bridesmaid dress. One reason for my procrastination is that I really don't have the discretionary money to sink into the dress. The second, and probably more pressing reason, is that I really, really despise going to David's Bridal. It is my own personal hell. It's loud, it's bright, and it is very...princess-y. Last time I was a bridesmaid, the consultant at David's said my arms were  like "tattooed sausages". Why the hell am I paying someone a handsome fee to insult me? I've spent the last year trying to build up my self-esteem. I really don't need a bridal consultant to tear it down by telling me that my body is not beautiful because I don't fit into the standardized American perception of beauty.

So, I haven't gone to pick up the damn dress yet. However, I did come up with alternatives to the dress that I'm sure my sister will be totally willing to entertain:

1. The gorilla suit.* On the corner of Lake Avenue and Stonewood, there is this sketchy-looking variety store. Outside of said store is an A-frame sign and a pink gorilla suit. I'm thinking I can pick up that gorilla suit for mad cheap--it's been outside for most of the winter and is right outside the tattoo parlor. People from the tattoo parlor go outside and smoke by the gorilla; I'm sure it has an aroma.

I know the gorilla suit is not "malibu"; it's pink. However, I'm sure a gallon of Clorox to bleach the suit and some dye in bright blue will bring the suit up to the wedding's standards. Plus, I'm sure the gorilla suit is very sturdy and the fake fur wouldn't mat in the dryer or fall out or anything. I'm pretty sure this plan will work out well and I will be standing on the beach in Florida not looking like a deranged Sully from Monsters Inc. with alopecia.

"Hey, kids!"

As Amy pointed out yesterday, "Your sister says she is a 'beachy girl'. You just shrug and tell her you are a 'gorilla suit girl.' She'll understand and think it's awesome!"

2. My second plan was inspired by a post on Retronaut:

I love how he is looking so lovingly at his woman wearing sauna pants. People will look lovingly at me, too.

I think these sauna pants with a coconut bra (Amy pointed out that I would need a top). If you look at the picture, the pants have a straw attached. I could keep a pina colada in there or something and sip it during the wedding. Another option would be to keep Green Goddess dressing in the pants, fill up a fanny pack with crudite, and keep the pina colada in the coconut bra (this would have a straw, too). I would offer snacks and drinks to the guests during the wedding. People would be really impressed with my sister's ingenuity at having a one-woman buffet run around during the ceremony. And I'm sure these people would be grossed out at the idea of drinking Green Goddess dressing from a straw out of my sauna pants.

I bet I could get custom sauna pants in Malibu blue, too.

The other benefit of wearing the sauna pants would be that I would lose a ton of water weight. Then I could go to David's Bridal without having my self-esteem cut to shreds because the consultants would wonder at my svedlt body and want to know my secrets. Of course, at that point, the wedding would be over, so I wouldn't have to go to David's Bridal anyway; and the consultants will never know my secret!

As much as I want to be a "gorilla suit kind of girl", I think I'm definitely a "sauna pants and coconut bra kind of girl." Due to the frequency of Amy and my visit's to the Shops on West Ridge, I'm pretty sure I will find these sauna pants. Hey, maybe the sketchy variety store carries them!

I bet my sister is going to read this post and think I'm freaking brilliant.

To the other bridesmaids who already bought the dress which I know we can't return: I'm really sorry that you already bought the dress and that my sister is having you go buy sauna pants from the 1970s. Get your money's worth from the bridesmaid dress and spend the next 10 Halloweens as a princess.

Just sayin'.

*My husband first posited the gorilla suit as an alternative to the bridesmaid's dress about a month ago. I can't take credit for the idea--just the idea of bleaching the hell out of it and dying it Malibu.

Another Day

A few days ago, I had posted about going to a used book store and I said, "That will be a post for another day."

Today is another day, dear reader.

I love used bookstores! With the advent of digital publishing and perhaps the decline in reading, used bookstores are like unicorns--you just don't see them around so much anymore. A few weeks ago, my friend, Amie,* and I were stalking used bookstores in the Rochester area online, and we finally found one in Spencerport, The Book Centre.

I liked the Book Centre. It is floor to ceiling with books. So many books. So many, many books. It's the kind of place where I think I could spend days browsing the stacks, but only can tolerate about 45 minutes before I have an information overload.

As we were browsing the mysteries, I heard some voices in the row of books behind me. Suddenly, a pile of heavy books about WWII aviation landed on my head, as well as a guide to birds. I stood stunned. A gentleman rounded the row and said, "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head.

"Ah, here it is!," he said cheerily, picking up the bird guide.

I felt a little awkward, so I started picking up the books on aviation. "You can leave those. I'll get them," the cheerful man said.

It was like people got beamed in the head with heavy books every day.

I retreated into the paranormal romance section to lick my wounds. I had a hell of a head ache.

Later, when Amie and I stopped for coffee, I asked, "Do you think it would be ironic if I got killed by a stack of books on my day off?"

She smiled. "Yeah, it would probably become some sort of meme and go viral."

"Yeah, I can see that--Librarian Killed by Books. Oh, the hilarity." My head still hurt. I think the cheerful bookseller should have given me a free book for pain and suffering.

So, having said all this, I'm actually looking forward to going back to Book Centre. There's so much more there I want to pick through. I'm bringing a friend when I return, so I can have someone spot me as I browse. After all, I don't want to be that meme.

*I have a few friends named Amy. It is really confusing to people when I talk about "my friend, Amy" because it could be Amy, Amy or Amie. I think my Amys come across better in my blogging.
Having said that, there is Lora and Laurie, Colleen and Colleen. This is why my husband just nods when I tell him anecdotes about my friends.

Meme has nothing to do with this post. I just like it.

In defense of stupid

Mae Young. Photo from Fox Sports.

Back in college, I used to spend my down time reading classics and researching artists. I blew through Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in two days--just for fun.* I researched T.S. Eliot because I wanted to know more about him--just for fun. I read Moby Dick in a day and a half--just for fun. I read about Andy Warhol's screen-printing processes--just for fun.

Amy and I started watching wrestling in grad school. Olean, NY has a huge wrestling fan base. I think we started to watch it in part to have something to talk about with our coworkers at Tops and Ames.** We also started to watch it to poke fun of it. However, I found myself being sucked into the storylines and impressed with the wrestlers.

Edge and Christian are my favorite and my best.

When I started teaching full-time, I found that I couldn't come home from work and snuggle up with the work of Charles Baudelaire or pick apart the layers of symbolism in William Blake. You can say what you want about teachers--but I tell you, the job is mentally and emotionally exhausting. I wanted to be entertained by something I didn't have to think about--at all.

And this is truly when I got sucked into the world of the WWE.

Amy and I used to watch Monday Night RAW religiously. We used to speculate about the story lines, including the fact that we could probably write more cohesively than the WWE writers. We went to the live events in Rochester and Buffalo. It was great fun! At one point, I had even charted out a cross stitch chart of Christian. Somehow, I messed up the dimensions in the stitching software and my finished project was going be about 7 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide. It would have taken a few hundred skeins of thread to complete. I decided that it would have to be my life's work to do this project. I imagined myself finishing the project when I was, like, 70 and presenting it to the Orangeville, Ontario Town Hall as a memento of one of their greatest sons.

This was not the original pic I was going to stitch. But imagine this about 7 ft. tall. Truly epic stitching, I tell ya!

Of course, I never actually stitched it.

I did find when I watched wrestling regularly, I treated myself better. After during my first year of teaching, I weighed close to 300 lbs. I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without being winded. I started eating vegetarian and exercising and lost weight. Part of my motivation was because I was watching these people who had attractive bodies and I wanted to be attractive, too.

I dropped out of the wrestling fandom when I got married, as my husband couldn't stand the stuff. Not that I blame him--I do have a lot of problems with the WWE--they don't treat their workers very well; they exploit women; they reinforce hurtful stereotypes; Linda McMahon's run for office; etc.

Having said that, I sometimes become nostalgic for my WWE fandom days because it was fun. This is why I am sad about the passing of Mae Young, who was a pioneer of women who wrestled. I am in awe that she worked right up to the end of her life. She was strong and sassy. Although I don't want to be a wrestler, nor do I desire to watch WWE, I do admire Mae Young.

*After I emerged from my dorm room after shunning my friends for two days to read The Fountainhead, I told Amy that I never wanted to read another book again. I thought The Fountainhead was that awful.

**Remember Ames? When the Olean Ames was closing, I bought a pair of shoes there. Each shoe was a different size. Since then, I always check to make sure the shoes are the same size when I buy shoes.

Science Don't Care About You

Before I get started on today's post, I suggest you check out this post from my brother on his blog. It's insightful, funny and talks a little bit about what it's like to be a pro wrestler. 

N. Tesla. Despite the fact that it looks like he doesn't care, he cared very much about science. However, science never cared about him.

It was either Christmas Day or shortly thereafter, when my husband, son and I had a discussion about science. Mind you, we talk about science all the time, but this discussion sticks out in my mind because the topic was about how science doesn't care about us. In fact, my child wrote a song called "Science Don't Care About You". As he was singing it, Mark said, "Just because science doesn't care about you, doesn't mean that you shouldn't care about science."

I added, "Yes. If you stop believing in science, you will start to float around the house, because you don't believe in gravity."

My husband sighed. "No," he said, "You can doubt stuff like gravity, but that doesn't mean it won't exist. Science governs our every day life."

"I still think it would be cool if the cats started floating around the house," I said. "After all, they don't believe in science. It is against their religion*."

Mark does have a point. It is important to know about science, even if it doesn't care about you. After all, a knowledge of basic science helps us avoid things like mixing bleach and ammonia.

I'm such a big fan of science that I have tried to insinuate myself into our school's science department, telling them they should let me in because I have a degree in science (okay, it's library science, but are we really going to split hairs here, people?).

In conclusion, science doesn't care about you. Not one single bit. But you should care about science because it will help you stay alive.

*Honestly, I don't know about my cats' religious beliefs. I never had theological discussions with them. However, I do assume they believe in sacrificing to appease a higher power, as I find the toy mouse by the food dish when it is empty.

Don't call it a comeback, or The Last Three Weeks of My Life

I had in my head that I was going to take an indefinite break from blogging because I felt that I had really have nothing to say and, besides, who reads blogs anyway? With some encouragement from my friend, Amie*, this weekend, I'm back blogging.

Much has happened in the past few weeks. First off, I've done a lot of crafting. I used to crochet all the time, but I found that I burned out on it. I've since been doing embroidery. I think I like embroidery better because I have to focus on it more. There are pics of recent projects on my Instagram. My proudest recent project is the polar bear I stitched for my cousin in the UK.

Second, I found out that the dojo where Charlie and I go for karate is closing its Brighton location at the end of the month. I credit karate with my change in attitude (I'm much more positive then I've ever been) and my change in fitness. When we received the letter, both Charlie and I were very upset. We are now trying to plan out what our next steps are. I don't want to give up exercising. I actually enjoy it!**

Third, and this is a minor point, our cats have colds. I mention this because cats do not have good hygiene, so they don't cover their noses when they sneeze. I've caught them sneezing into the communal food bowl. One sneezed in my face. This circles back to the Tabby Lobby, I'm sure, in some way. Anyhow, two of the three cats have colds and sneeze all the time and have runny noses.

Fourth, I went to a used book store this past weekend. That will be a story for another day.

Thanks, dear reader, for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate it.

*Thanks for your encouragement, Amie. I appreciate it.

**I never thought I would type that sentence. It's true, though.

taking a break

Hi, All,

I'm going to take a brief break from blogging, as I have a lot on my plate right now.

Check back soon.