jenny’s Neighborhood

Finished Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson.

My friend and former coworker Gwenn recommended this book.  I haven't read it before, although I did read (and love) Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins, which she also wrote.

This is another fantastic book of hers, although I don't think she writes happy books.  (That said, this is the first one I've read that didn't make me cry at the end.)

Sara Louise and Caroline are twins.  Caroline is the favorite, probably at least partly because she almost died when she was born.  Sara Louise, on the other hand, is sort of the forgotten twin.  She works hard to help her father, who's a waterman (this is set on the Eastern Shore, and talks about Crisfield and Salisbury, where I'm from! LOVE!) but everyone is still concerned about Caroline and how to make her dreams of being a singer come true. 

Sara Louise (who's called "Wheeze" by everyone in the family, because that's what Caroline called her when they were little) spends pretty much the entire book hating her sister.  And for the record, Caroline doesn't seem that bad.  She's a little bit of a pain, yes, but it seems like Wheeze is just determined to hate her.  (And I kind of understand it, because it sucks to be the one who goes out of your way to help people and still not be the favorite.)

So yes, I definitely recommend this.  And now I want to read more of her books. :)

Jacob Have I Loved

Katherine Paterson

I have had it with all these motherfucking icicles on my motherfucking truck.

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While all of us average people can join miscellaneous internet dating sites if we're so inclined, thankfully there's a special website for the more attractive segment of the population: www.beautifulpeople.com.

Oh yes, because dating isn't full of enough pitfalls, this website allows its own members to vote on whether an aspiring applicant is attractive enough to join. Just recently, the website dumped several thousand members who apparently had gained some weight over the holidays.

Beautiful_donut_dot_com

I think this is good news for everyone. For the remaining members of beautifulpeople.com, well, they don't have to worry about accidentally hooking up with someone of sub-par physical beauty. For us normal looking people, we're less likely to accidentally end up with anyone shallow enough to join a website devoted to the pursuit of appearance above substance. And for the people who've just been kicked off the site...they've just learned an important lesson. Not all of them will learn the same lesson, but they'll learn one all the same. Maybe lose weight or you'll be a loser. Maybe looks aren't everything. Maybe all those jerks who voted you off are just jealous.

Either way it's interesting and it reminds me of my post from back in October about how "high-quality" birds are attracted to other "high-quality" birds.

As for my on-going dating saga ... I had a doozy on Saturday. I thought it would be casual. Dinner, some chatting. Oh no. It was more like a job interview. I'd met the guy a few times here and there, and he seemed nice. Not a hysterical crack-up like the Blurter, but nice.

Turns out, he's looking for his Soul Mate*, and he seems to think the best way to find her is to corner some unsuspecting woman and grill her relentlessly about her Goals, her Ambitions, What She's Looking For. Several times, I tried to tell Mr. Soul Mate that I didn't want to play that particular game, but he wouldn't let up. It was like he had a mental checklist that he had to get through, including making additional lists of Things We Have in Common. At last, the check came.

Guys, let me just tell you, if a woman insists vehemently on paying her half of dinner, let her. She's not just being polite. It's not just that she's a feminist. It's that the date is over and she doesn't want to feel that she's beholden to you for anything. Mr. Soul Mate could not be deterred. He bought my dinner and then he said, "What would you like to do now?"

Go home. Which I did. I extricated myself as politely but as firmly as I could. I thought I made it very clear that the date was over for one very simple reason: I wasn't interested.

Turns out, that wasn't enough, because he was interested. That free dinner has now turned into 36 hours of stalking. Polite, non-threatening stalking, but stalking all the same. Text messages, emails, voice mails, you name it. The only saving grace is he doesn't know where I live or what department I work for. I've now sent off a very firmly worded email to indicate he should give it up. We're not going out again. I'm not his soul mate. Done. Over. Enough.

*I don't believe in this notion of a soul mate. How depressing would that be if there were just one person who was meant for you? What if he got run over and killed before you met him? What if she was already married? 

I like to read, but I don't. I feel guilty sitting down and reading when there is always something to do around here. So I've decided I'm going to work hard, but I'm going to find some time to actually read. I've started with one of the books that Steve gave me for Christmas...

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works

C. S. Lewis

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Oh-Ten? Two-thousand and ten? Ten? What will you say when you have to say 2010 aloud?

I will say two-thousand-nine until June anyway, so I have some time to think about this one.

Finished The Lost Hours by Karen White.

I'm going to just give you the Amazon description, because I don't want to risk spoiling anything. 

"When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.

Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper's dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong."

I was talking to a friend of mine recently (maybe even YESTERDAY) about how much I enjoy finding a new author who's written a lot of books.  It happened two years ago with Anita Shreve, and it's just happened again with Karen White.  I cannot wait to get paid again; I am loading up my Kindle with her books. :)

The Lost Hours

Karen White

I just realized that I'm three months away from turning 30, and I'm a little freaked out by it.

Now, before you point out that 30 is not old, I know that.

I think what it is is that 30 is when you are officially viewed as a grownup.  (Whether or not you act like it, you're expected to have it together by the time you're 30.)

I do not feel like I have it together.

I mean, yes, I'm a grownup.  I live by myself, I have a job, I don't get drunk all the time, I am polite and kind more often than I am not, and I don't eat ice cream for breakfast*.

But I don't feel like a grownup.  I feel like a complete mess.  A procrastinating mess with an unbalanced checkbook and an unfortunate book- and movie-buying habit.

Oh, blergh.  :(

* = most of the time.

Or more of a poll, really.

So I'm doing this thing where I'm donating money for reading, watching movies and TV.  I'm going to do a little bit of a post for the books and movies (partly so I can keep track and partly so that maybe next year, I can do a big list of movies, too), but I'm not sure what to do for TV shows.

I'd be easier to just list what I watch, because I can't imagine anyone cares what I think about the new episodes of Desperate Housewives (tonight!). 

So here's the question--should I list or do you actually care what I think about the TV shows I watch? :)

As of now, I will be blogging over here at my new little internet home, A Banner Year.

I have loved Vox for these three years but some of the practical logistics of the blog were bugging me, like the fact that you can't have multiple authors. (And that you have to name your images -- I hate that.)

Anyway, my new blog is a collaboration between me and my twin sister, Esther. Won't you please come along for the ride? We'd love to have you along! (I have no year-long resolutions; I am all about the monthly resolutions this year and one thing I hope to do -- in January at least -- is blog on a more regular basis.)

In the meantime, I'll be keeping my Vox account and popping back in regularly to stay up-to-date with all the lovely folks I've "met" here.

Happy 2010!

Beetlejuice is #88 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs list.

I don't know that I'd say this is one of the 100 funniest films ever, but it's definitely funny (if you like your movies dark and twisted).

This movie makes me miss Winona Ryder, who I absolutely loved when I was little.  (And she's in one of my most favorite movies--Heathers.)

(It also makes me sad, because it makes me remember when Tim Burton did really good movies.)

Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)