Posts for category ‘random’

Saw Margot at the Wedding last night. Loved it. It was a good deal less depressing than The Squid and the Whale, thanks to Jack Black in a part that I’m guessing Baumbach wrote specifically for him. And what’s great about his movies is that no matter what kind of painful stuff is going on your life, you can say, “At least I’m not part of that family.” Also, I love Jennifer Jason Leigh and have missed her. (Though I just looked her up and apparently there was no reason for me to miss her since she’s been in a zillion movies in the past decade…)

Do you ever feel like winter will never be over? That your best attempts at doing the right thing only make things worse? Is that what the Old Testament writer meant when he said that our human righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the way things should work? Right now I have the lyrics to Pierce Pettis’s “Crying Ground” in my head. Pierce is my singing therapist. Remember that ANTM episode where the girls have to contort their way through lasers and not touch anything in order to get a prize? And be graceful and pretty while they do it? Of course you do! That’s how I feel about life right now. Like it would be nice to put on a silver body suit and weave your way oh-so-carefully through it without ever touching anything that will leave a mark or hurt you or hurt someone else, and you’ll look fantastic doing it and have everyone applaud and say wow, look at how she handled that! Such grace! Such wisdom! Perfect decisions at every turn! What a champ! Instead I’m Renee, who keeps running into the lasers over and over and not only has to hear the buzzer going off every three seconds, but has the added humiliation of going back to go back to the start each time and none of the progress she’s made counts. Forunately, life is not ANTM and the story arc goes on and on and is not contained in a 13-week season.

Next time someone asks me what famous person I’d like to meet, remind me to say Gwen Ifill. Is there an Ifill biography for young readers? There should be. You should write one!

I’ve been going to a spinning class at my gym. It is actually pretty fun, except for the part where the bicycle seat is stabbing you in the uterus. I did buy appropriate butt-attire, but I figured out at the last class that one row of bikes has wider, softer seats while another row has pointy, stabby seats, and even with the $70 bike shorts the pointy seats still hurt. So it’s all about choosing the right bike.

Lastly, I successfully secured my wireless modem. I always wanted to be one of those socialist-minded people who left an open connection for the world to use, but I’ve been having a lot of stability issues with my connection so now it is all sewn up. Sorry, world!

Being part of a Powerful Women’s Group is pretty much my worst nightmare.

A Good vs. Evil Picnic actually sounds like it might be fun. I spent way too much pondering whether I would be Good or Evil.

As much as I’d love to one day participate in the making of a movie, this probably isn’t the one to start with. Yeah, it’s the quote marks.

I am so, so glad I’m not single. (This actually sounds like a good opening premise for a Hollywood romance, or better yet a horror movie, called Before Summer Is Over.)

If there comes a day that I am really, really desperate for a change of pace or an Xbox, I would still not do this.

1. Did you catch the latest This American Life (“Duty Calls”)? It was about a guy taking care of his aging, estranged, alcoholic mother. He went way beyond anything I ever did for my dad, but it brought back a lot of memories of the last year with him. I think anyone with a difficult parent should listen—not because it offers any kind of solution or hope, but it’s just nice to know you’re not alone. (And while you’re at it, throw $10 or $20 at WBEZ to keep the free podcast of TAL going. It’s really an amazing thing to be able to download any episode any time and listen when, where, and as often as you want.)

2. Speaking of alcoholic parents, I picked up a copy of Natasha Friend’s Lush while I was signing some stock at Barnes & Noble. The title grabbed me, and when I read the inside flap I thought, oh, that sounds exactly like my childhood! You know I love a good YA about alcoholic parents (like Mary Pearson’s A Room On Lorelei Street). 

3. Speaking of signing stock, if you’re in SLC you can now find signed copies of Story of a Girl at Barnes & Noble (Gateway and Sugarhouse), Sam Weller (only 1 left!), and of course King’s English. When I was signing the copies at Sugarhouse, I peeked inside and found copies from both the second and third printing, which is exciting because it means they’ve re-ordered a couple times. Yay!

4. Speaking of buying books, I also picked up Tim Farrington’s The Monk Upstairs. Years ago, a friend recommended Farrington’s The Monk Downstairs, and I just absolutely loved it and had no idea there was a sequel in the works. I grabbed it, and trust it will be a satisfying read.

5. Speaking of satisfying reads, I re-read Freak the Mighty and Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! this weekend for the purpose of capsule reviewing for The Ultimate Teen Book Guide, coming from Walker Books next year. There’s a reason these books have endured. I laughed, I cried, I envied and admired.

Okay, I gotta run and embark on the Winds of Change, IV, about which I’ll be posting soon. Have a great day!

My last post garnered many, many, many comments. People have strong feelings about rubber shoes, both pro and con. I thought I would give you a brief rundown of the results:

Sarah Dessen, Ann Marie Michaels, and famous bookseller literaticat all own Crocs. While Ann Marie doesn’t give a damn if anyone thinks they’re ugly, Sarah and ‘cat don’t wear them outside the boundaries of their homes and property. Coe Booth and Lauren Barnholdt admit to being drawn to Crocs or Croc-like products. Kim has two pair. It was stated that they are great for the pregnant among us, and all agree they look cute on kids. Regular users of Crocs assure us all that your feet don’t sweat. Several readers (fondly and not-so-fondly) remembered jelly shoes of the eighties. Lisa and Debbi are basically appalled by the whole thing. Anonymous pointed out that they are “man made, contain no animal products … and are anti-microbial and odor resistant, and many contain no pressure points because they are supposed to be worn loose fitting.” Well, that’s good enough for me, because in all honesty I have participated in ugly shoe wearing myself, in the form of Birkenstocks, and let me tell you they were definitely not anti-microbial or odor resistant. Next time you see me I may be wearing a pair of Crocs.
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I saw Year of the Dog yesterday and vehemently disagree with my friend Sarah’s hatred of it. I pretty much love all things Mike White and this was no exception. (Mike? Are you out there? Reading this via a Google Alert? Let’s be friends! We can be friends, right? I won’t be creepy about it, I promise. And if there’s one thing you know about, it’s creepy friends, and come to think of it this could give you a chance to be Chuck to my Buck. Or whatever. See, I’m getting creepy already!) But, you know, I can appreciate that Mike White isn’t for everyone. Which is good, because that means more Mike White for me.
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Caught the last hour of the national spelling bee and, damn, I felt sorry for the kid who got “pepysian”. He was so not ready for that. The funny thing is, I was just thinking the other day how I want my journal (my written journal) to be more pepysian, more like a log of what I do every day instead of feelings and fears and hopes and dreams and all the thing that make me not write in it most of the time. So now my entries will start with things like “up and to the office” just like good old Sam Pepys. (Boy, he gets kind of personal in his May entries. Sounds like the plumbing wasn’t all it could be.)

[Care to comment? Due to spam problems here, you’ll have to go over to the LiveJournal version.]

Some day we’ll look back on this time in our history and wonder what people were thinking. Some of us don’t even have to look back to ask that. What started with Crocs has oozed blossomed into a full-on fashion trend, and I can’t particpate.* Maybe someone can explain the appeal—on any level, for anyone over the age of nine—of brightly colored synthetic footwear. Are they really that comfortable?

What started it all – the Croc:

Unholy union of Crocs and ballet flats:

Lands End knock-offs:

Skechers makes them cool:

Marc Jacobs makes them expensive:

Do you own a pair? I want to see pictures. Of your feet in rubber shoes.

*Usually when I say this, there’s a 50/50 chance that in a few months I will be sporting said trend.

[Care to comment? You’ll have to go over to the LiveJournal version. I have surrendered to the spammers at sarazarr.com and have closed comments.]