Indecision

I guess I want it all.

Todd and I can't seem to make up our minds what some of our big goals are. We know we can't do it all, but we can't seem to let go of any of our ideas, either. Do we want a nicer/bigger apartment in the city? Would that money be better spent on a country house where we could spend our weekends? Should we spend extra money on world travel and just forget about new digs all together?

We hem. We haw. We go back and forth.

A nicer apartment in the city is a lovely day-to-day improvement, but it doesn't necessarily change life a lot. Traveling — something I really want to do but rarely make time for — offers a burst of relaxation, excitement, and rejuvenation. A country house is intimidating. I'm not sure we could really pull it off, and it's the biggest commitment of resources of any of our half-baked schemes. But my fantasies of idyllic weekends and iced tea-sipping on a porch make it seem worthwhile.

We're also talking about getting a car. It'd just be something to get us from point A to point B — nothing fancy. But it would make short trips out of the city a little easier. A day trip to go skiing, a weekend trip to visit friends or family, an excursion to pick apples...all seem easier to coordinate with a car.

What do you guys think we should do?

Cranky

After a lovely weekend, I spent much of Sunday night cranky about the homework I have to do. I don't mind the work when I feel like I'm learning. But as I've told many of you, one of my classes this semester feels like a waste. The more time consuming an assignment, the more irritated I am. This fall is too busy to dick around with what feels like bullshit. Unfortunately, I have to do it. The course is required, and I'm 10 weeks into the 14 week course. There is no point in complaining, and yet here I am.

Truth & Beauty

Lucy Grealy was an award-winning poet. For a long time, though, she was more famous for her appearance than her writing. That changed when she wrote Autobiography of a Face, which chronicles her story: as a child she suffered a rare cancer in her jaw. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy left her disfigured, and she spent much of the rest of her life undergoing reconstructive surgery after reconstructive surgery. The experience also left her with emotional scarring as well.

Ann Patchett, whose novels include Bel Canto, The Patron Saint of Liars, and The Magician's Assistant, lived with Grealy during graduate school, when they both attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Almost instantly, the two writers became dear friends, and Truth & Beauty is Patchett’s account of their relationship. Patchett tells her story with unflinching honesty. Grealy’s mania and insecurities would test anyone’s patience, but Patchett’s adoration for her is so complete — though never blind — that we come to love her, too.

More than that, I came to love Ann Patchett. I’ve been a fan of hers since my Chicago days. I bought The Patron Saint of Liars on a whim and read it in a single night. I was sick with a bug and couldn’t sleep and made it through my misery with the help of Patchett’s book. Having read Truth & Beauty, I feel like I know her and Lucy. She tells her story as though talking to a friend, and by the end you feel like were there, experiencing the highs and lows of this epic friendship right along side Ann and Lucy.

Friday Favorites: My Tea Mug

To make 30 posts in 30 days easier, I'm going to post once a week about something that is a favorite of mine. I've posted about my love of Adagio Tea before, so I won't bore you with a rehash of that exactly.

Instead I'll get specific. I bought this mug from them a while ago, and I really love it. I had been using their paper filters for the 70 or so cups of tea I drink at work each day. Those work great, but I knew I could be more environmentally-thoughtful in my tea consumption. So now I use this combo mug/infuser. Upside down, the glass cover serves perfectly as a coaster for my wet infuser. And (bad news for Adagio), I now get two cups of tea out of each serving of leaves. I used to just chuck the paper infusers in the trash since they were messy and gross. This mug will pay for itself soon enough, and in the meantime I like that I'm not throwing so much away. I also feel like I'm more officially a tea drinker with this fancy infuser. :)

In case anyone is looking for new teas to try, I'm currently loving Fujian Baroque, Rooibos Vanilla Chai, Bengal Green Chai, and Black Dragon Pearls. The last are especially fun to watch unfurl in your mug.

Worst Day of the Week

Thursdays are hellish. I'm not trying to be overly dramatic here. They really are the worst day of my week.

I have four and a half hours of standing meetings on Thursdays, and one additional always seems to get added to the calendar just for fun. Then I race uptown to attend my market research class at 6:00 and my writing class at 8:00. By the time I'm home a little after 10:00, my brain is fried, my energy is gone, and I just want to watch TV until I fall into bed.

The up side is that Fridays almost feel like a vacation in comparison. I'm excited to have time to actually get work done at work, as opposed to just talking all day. And I appreciate having the evening to myself and a full weekend just beyond. And my schedule will change in January with the start of a new semester, so I only have a few more LONG Thursdays to get through.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

This mash up has gotten a lot of buzz, and the plot is pretty much right there in the title, so I'll spare you all a rehash of what this book is all about.

If you're a purist, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is not for you. While Seth Grahame-Smith has obviously taken pains to keep the broad strokes the same as in Jane Austen's original, he's added new zombie-fighting personality traits for Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters. A secondary character contracts the "strange plague" and becomes a undead herself. Characters debate the warrior training available in China versus Japan. Elizabeth and Jane are still BFFs. Lydia is still a flirt. Mr. Darcy is still proud, and Wickham is still a liar. But there is no mistaking it: this is not the Pride and Prejudice Ms. Austen had in mind.

I went in ready to accept the irreverance, and found myself liking this book very much. I believe a familiarity with and affection for the original helped. Without that, this might have just seemed like a weird combo. With that background, though, I appreciated how Grahame-Smith worked in such disparate elements while maintaining both the sense and sensibility of the original.

Civic Duty

One of the random perks about working at Columbia is that we are always off for election day. There is never any excuse not to vote, since I have the entire day at my leisure to do it.

Today New Yorkers are voting for mayor. I fully expect Mike Bloomberg to win. He's done ok the last eight years, and he has spent about 5 jillion dollars per voter to tell us so. The thing that most people are most pissed off about, and his biggest hurdle in this election, is how he hijacked the term limits law. Voters said loud and clear that we had no interest in changing the term limit law. Bloomberg wanted to run again, though, and — with the power of endless funds behind him — he built enough support in the city council to have the law changed. It sits badly with me, as it does with many New Yorkers. I feel that he used his money to buy what he wanted, regardless of what was best for his constituents. That doesn't exactly make me want to support him. Nonetheless, he'll win today. He'll do it without my vote, though.

For once, though, I'm also not voting for the democratic nominee. Bill Thompson really doesn't impress me, and since it's not at all a close race I feel no pressure to support him. Another option is to vote for Jimmy McMillan of The Rent Is Too Damn High party. He looks like he's straight out of the WWF, and the party name is hilarious. Still, I'll be voting for Green party candidate Billy Talen, aka Reverend Billy. He doesn't have a shot in hell, but I'm rooting for him anyway.

Go Reverend Billy!