Perforation Problems

(Day Forty-Eight) Last night I saw this on the floor and thought it was a mouse. I freaked out a little. But it's not a mouse. It's a leaf. I did not pick it up. Because that would be, like, silly? So today when I got home, I saw it and freaked out again. Michael was walking by at the time. Me: "I keep thinking that's a mouse." Michael: "Me too. But I keep not picking it up." I just went over to take a picture of it and again did not pick it up. 

(Day Forty-Seven) I heard a story on the radio yesterday about how people open conversations in different parts of the country. In New York and LA it's the standard, "What do you do?," which is really, "What's your job?," which is really, "What's your socio-economic standing in society?" In Colorado it's the same question, but instead of answering, "I'm a lawyer," you answer, "I mountain climb and ski." And in New Orleans, the question is, "How's your mama?" Lol. This brings up an interesting question -- when we define our identities by what we do for a living, how much of our real identity are we leaving out? Are our occupations really what define who we are? If you don't have a traditional 9-5, who are you? My job takes up a big chunk of my time. That's partly because it's a demanding job and partly because I have let it take up a big chunk of my time. I think many of us define who ...

(Day Forty-Six) I'm going to pretend I'm an NPR reviewer for a sec to do this intro: Now it's time for our brand new series, "Good Book Breakdown," where we look at books that stand out among the masses as crowd pleasers, classics, and must-reads. On Monday we covered the loved children's story  The Secret Garden ; today we'll talk about a children's book that has crossed over to fans of all ages: the  Harry Potter series.  People love Harry Potter , but why? There are hundreds of books about magic, about wizards. The shelves of our home library are full of fantasy books with supernatural elements, strong heroes, and epic good-vs-evil battles -- so why does Harry Potter get the attention? What made those books take off? To some extent it's a question of luck, circumstances, and the zeitgeist -- I've read books that are better written than HP and similar in nature and enjoyment but which get no attention at all. But there is a particul...

(Day Forty-Five) Me: "I wish we had cookies at home. Also I wish you could make only 10 cookies at a time. I guess you could cut the ingredients." Michael: "That's why you buy those blocks of cookies and break some off." Me: "Those aren't as good as homemade ones. Anyway we don't have those, EITHER. We have NOTHING." Michael: "We have Trefoils." Me: "Those aren't the same as chocolate chip cookies. Whenever I say 'cookies' I really mean 'chocolate chip cookies.'" Michael: "You could put the Trefoils in the microwave with chocolate chips on top." Me: "No." Michael: "No?" Me: "That's not the same at all." Michael: "What if you dip a Trefoil in chocolate?" Me: "Listen. Shortbread and chocolate don't go together." Michael: "I think you're not giving it a chance." Me: "I've GIVEN it a chance. I...

(Day Forty-Four) During my morning commute today, I was thinking about what kind of book I'd like to write, with thoughts of my most recent disappointment over Allegiant in my head. There's no reason I couldn't write a series at least as good as the Divergent books, if I really put my mind to it. It would be hard and take a lot of painstaking hours (yes, even a bad book can be a lot of work), but I could do it. That led me to think about the books I read as a kid and as an adult that I really just loved -- the ones I couldn't put down, and which stayed with me days after I finished them. Those books aren't always the bestsellers or great literature, but they pull you in and make you care. Good writers are good readers -- I'm sure you've heard that -- so I'd like to start a new blog series on here where I look at what makes the books I love great, both from a reader's perspective and as a writer. The English Major in me will want to break out t...

(Day Forty-Three) Sunday nights are the worst. Where did the weekend go? Let's focus on the positive. When we left for the lake on Friday, our backyard was flooded and everything was gray and dull. But when we got home this evening, it was like Spring had snuck in and infected everything... in the best way possible. The grass is bright green, the daffodils are coming up, and and the air smells like growing. I've got plans this week to clean up the yard and start controlling the weeds that are already sticking their heads up. I'm strangely excited about it, though that excitement will probably only last the first 5 minutes, given my existing feelings about weeding. The lake was great. A couple days with my grandparents and away from the normal flow of things was exactly what I needed. I wish I could have stayed longer. But when we got home, we went to see Captain America 2, which was very satisfying. The Marvel movies are actually pretty well-written, most of the tim...

(Day Forty-Two) I'm sitting in the front room at the lake, playing Plants vs. Zombies and listening to my grandpa talk nonstop at the Kentucky vs. Wisconsin game on the television. "I like Wisconsin," he says, stretching his feet out on the footrest of his recliner. "They have great cheese and beer."  "Tom," my grandma says from her seat by the fire. She sounds almost offended. "You like them for reasons other than that. Why are you saying that?"  "All right, I do."  I learn over the next hour that Wisconsin doesn't have the talented players Kentucky does, but they play as a team. Kentucky just buys their players, Grandpa says.  I've been listening to my grandpa all day. We drove into Webster to see Brett, the manager at Ace Hardware, who had info for Grandpa about a boat lift for his fishing boat. In the car on the way there I heard a story about Uncle Jerry wrecking his car on the way to prom over thirty years ...