Nyotaimori

turns out that 9 books is too many as i only managed to read 4. and that was with serious ignoring of cousins (namely lacey) who wanted my attention too. man, i am a bad cousin. although if you consider all the presents i got her which she wore for 3 days in a row AND all the movies i brought up which she watched, i’m actually a pretty cool cousin.

christmas this year was a trifle overwhelming. when everyone was in the house at the same time i wanted to cover my ears with my hands and hide in a corner. i am not kidding. it was bedlam.

even with the excess of noise and horrible weather, it was still pretty nice. lots of family to see and talk with. lots of rock band to play, books to read, and movies to watch. also lots of hair to dye (katherine, vicky and i did pink/red streaks, lacey went blond, and nancy went auburn).

i took lots of pictures, as did my mom, and i’ve uploaded the ones i currently have access to. they are vieweable here: michele’s christmas 2008 photos.

i cannot stand how cute that photo is. i gave her a plastic sushi set and she immediately started munching on it. cute!

i’m debating right now how many books to take with me to oregon for christmas. is 11 too many? i’ll probably get a couple more as presents too… when i went to mexico, i took 10 and that trip was 2 days shorter. admittedly, i didn’t read 2 of them. but spending 5 days on planes and on a beach is very different from spending 7 days with 19 members of my extended family. this paragraph already has too many numbers in it.

ugh, i hate packing. so much thinkings.

maybe 9 would be ok.

19 family members? baby jesus, there’s a lot of them. and 3 additional people who usually come aren’t this year.

does everyone have a stance on this? i was told by a high school senior that i had to choose a side. i chose ninja. he now has a vendetta out against me and keeps arguing about cutlasses being better than ninja throwing stars. i’m like, dude, you’ve got a parrot crapping down the back of your pansy, billowing shirt and an eye-patch. all i have to do is sneak up on your bad side with one of my many, many ninja weapons and take your ass out. he retaliates with, sure, but i’ve got a boat and you’ve got no sea-legs. i’m a ninja! i’ve got all the legs!

so i may or may not have made a little sign for the library:

and wrote under it:

ninja > pirate

suck on that, kid. you can’t make awesome signs to tape up in the library.

Evan and Fish Styx share a mechanized cheese toy.

the coolest thing about this toy? there’s marbles that roll around inside that have mouse faces painted on them. genius. and i’m sure the cat and 1 year old really appreciate the details.

I saw the play, Arabian Nights, with Kris last night at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. You may have already read her review.

At the end of the play when Scheherazade and the King live happily ever after I was absurdly delighted with the play. Fifteen minutes later in the car driving home I did some math. At the beginning of the play, the vizier states that it’s been 3 long years since the King started rutting and strangling virgins. This means that he’s likely killed 1,095 women. So at the end of 1,001 nights with Scheherazade, has he really atoned for his killing spree? I just can’t accept his reformation, I guess. Even if I could accept that he’s felt guilt and repented, I still am not sure that I’d be willing to forgive him for his crimes against my gender. Plus, it’s an unequal trade off. 1,095 vs. 1,001. That’s 94 deaths unrelieved.

Regardless of my feelings for the King, the play itself was wonderful. It was warm and witty and felt like it was wrapping me in a comforting blanket with the twin pinpricks of delight and thought. Kris quoted a set of lines from the play:

– What is the purpose of life?

– To cultivate enthusiasm.

which were from the story of Sympathy and the Learned. This was possibly my favorite story Scheherazade told over the course of the many nights. It was full of thought-provoking questions and answers, flowing dialogue, and humorous interludes between egocentric scholars and the simple, cutting-through-the-bullshit, truth of Sympathy.

My other favorite stories included the Bag in the Marketplace where the two citizens fighting over a lost bag improved their claims as to what was inside for the delight and merriment of the witnesses and audience. Also great was the story of the Fart, the one with the Many Lovers, and the montage scene they did of many, many stories all at once to show time passing quickly for Scheherazade and the King in their night-time pillow talking.

I went into the play fighting against the soporific charms of my many cold medicines, but by intermission I was wide awake and thrumming with curiosity to see what story would be told next. This is a sign of a great play–that it has the power to wake you up. I was nervous at the very beginning because the introductory elements were a trifle boring but the actors excelled at making Scheherazade’s tales come to life. The second half of the 2 hour and 25 minute long play was even more marvelous than the first. I totally recommend this to anyone who likes stories, singing, dancing, and excellent costuming and set design.

i returned from cozumel a couple days ago, but i was sort of debilitatingly ill. ok, i just had a cold. but a BAD cold. incapacitated on the couch cold. still, though mexico, i’ve got things to say.

we stayed at a fancy ass resort on an island off the yucatan. it’s in the gulf of mexico way down on the west side. all-inclusive is no joke. you know, in the abstract, i was always like, “all-inclusive, sure, i understand what that means.” trust me, until confronted with a man constantly asking if you want another drink you don’t know what all-inclusive is. or when given a menu at dinner and you kind of look at it thinking to yourself, “could i have four courses? is anything stopping me? i don’t have any money. but….i don’t need any money. 4 courses! bring on the soup dish!” and then i would have cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto. and filet mignon. and chocolate souffle. and then if i wanted to have another dessert, well 24 hour room service, friends.

as some of you know i took 10 books along on this trip with me. my rationale was that i’d be gone 5 days and i can generally read 2 books a day. i might have accomplished this if i didn’t pass out on a chaise lounge so often. stupid alcohol and sunshine and 80 degree muggy, comforting warmth. i did read 8 of them. not bad all things considered. and 4 of those were the twilight series by stephanie meyer. which on re-read i think i loved more than the first time. all this time i’ve been complaining how horrible bella (the main character is) and she IS, don’t get me wrong, but she’s not half as bad as i thought in memory. in the first book she’s even somewhat feisty!

i also read the newest vampire academy book by richelle mead and it was fucking delightful. of course now i’m just sort of desperate for book 4. fucking cliff hangers. the problem is that all i want is to either read MORE vampire YA or re-read these ones. it’s a tough call as there’s not much out currently that i haven’t read but re-reading again seems irresponsible in the face of all the other books i’ve got on the to-be-read shelves. i still want to re-read all the harry potters too. sigh. do i need to re-try the morganville vampire ones? or attempt the house of night ones? i just don’t know.

speaking of books, i added a butt-load to my amazon wishlist. so if you’re….a random stalker looking to be my friend (fingers crossed!) now you know where to go to make that dream a reality. gift-giving–the way to my heart.

and in conclusion (and off the topic of books), i give you pictures of my trip to mexico:

it took me like 3 hours but i updated my resume, wrote a cover letter, and applied for my first archivist job. in new hampshire. KEENE, new hampshire. shout out, keane! eeeeeee!

that’s the library at keene!