The Queen's Meme: Blog Outside the Box

My friend Mimi Lenox asked me personally if I would do this meme when it first launched. Well, you can't say no to the Queen of Memes!

So here, kittens, is the inaugural launch of The Queen's Meme. You can become a participant by clicking ici, or the button below.

1. You are in court. You are in deep doo-doo. What did you do?
I most likely got a speeding ticket, ran a red light, or a stop sign. I'm known for having a lead paw.

2. Your blog just became a best-selling book. What is the title of your book?
The Gospel According to Kitten.

3. It is midnight. The phone rings. It is Michael Jackson calling from the Great Beyond. What would you like to ask him?
Why are you calling me now? Everyone who knows me knows not to call me at that hour, unless it's an emergency.

4. You are having your fortune told. The fortune teller looks in the crystal ball, screams and leaves the room in fright. What did they see?
If that's the reaction that the fortune teller gave, I don't think I'd wanna know what they saw. I'd scream and leave the room in fright myself.

5. You're blogging along minding your own blusiness (that's blog + oh...you know) when Google unexpectedly puts a Objectionable Content Warning on your blog. Your own mother is afraid to enter! What, pray tell, did you do to warrant it? How did this happen? Do you think you deserve it? Just how objectionable are you? Do tell.
I said the f-word once. Just once. Oh yeah, and just one mention of the word "sex" as well. Just one. I don't think I would deserve it for just a one-time thing.

6. You suddenly become God Of The Universe. What would your first Commandment be?
Evil shall be banned from the world. In all forms. I'd like a peaceful, harmonious universe, merci beaucoup.

7. And finally, what secret would you like to tell the Queen?
If I answered this question right now, it wouldn't be much of a secret, since I'd be telling the Queen and the world. :) Besides, I don't think I've got many secrets...I can't think of any to write here!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

This meme is brought to you by the lovely J.Kaye. Click here if ya wanna participate.

So what am I reading right now? Let's see...

Beginner's Greek: I'm on page 265 of 441 pages. I should be able to finish this week; it's going to be a busy week, so I don't know how much time I'll have for reading. It's had a lot of interesting plot twists. I really can't wait to finish this one!

Rise and Shine: This is not a book I'd normally choose, but it's for my A to Z Challenge, and I needed an author with a Q name--Anna Quindlen.

The Future Homemakers of America: I'm reading this for my Take a Chance Challenge. I'll let you know which task it was for when I post the review.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: This one's for my Summer Vacation Challenge.

And that's what I am reading right now! What are y'all reading, kittens?

How NOT to clean your keyboard

NOTE: I composed this a few weeks ago, and was only able to upload the photos just now. Still, it should not take away from your enjoyment of my little story. :)

One Monday night, a few weeks back, I had a fabulous blog post planned, and I was all ready to go post it, when I came into the office with my dinner and dropped a hot bowl of freshly microwaved potato all over the keyboard. I did not have one of those fancy-shmancy spill-resistant keyboards, so the potato spilled all throughout the cracks and crevices.

Now, I had heard a story on NPR, years ago, about how one could put the keyboard in the dishwasher for cleaning. I didn't think this would be feasible, though, so I decided to clean it by hand.

I knew I had to clean it out before any further complications arose, so I unplugged it, brought it into the kitchen, turned on the faucet and used the spray hose. I took great pains not to get the plug wet.

Then I turned the keyboard over on the drainboard to let it dry.

But I got impatient. I wanted to use my keyboard, and I wanted to use it now!!!

So here's what I did: I took the keyboard into the bathroom, and plucked off each key, one by one by one.

I carefully arranged the keys on the vanity so I would know where to place them when it came to re-assembling the keyboard:

Oh yeah, and I also put the keys in a sink full of soapy water to clean them as well.

Once all the keys were off, I used Q-Tips to get rid of all of the dirt that was in every crack and crevice of the keyboard. And there was a lot more than just potato in there. There was a surprising amount of cat hair in there, too.

(See the dirty water right below the number keys? That's how dirty it was in there!)

When I got all the crap out, I used more Q-Tips to get rid of the excess water. I then took the keyboard, flipped it over on the drainboard, and let it dry for half an hour.

But I turned into Veruca Salt again: "Daddy, I want to use my keyboard NOW!!!"

I got my keyboard from the kitchen and took out my blow dryer. I aimed the hot air at the still-wet piece of equipment. This task was made more difficult for two reasons:

1. The blow dryer blew some of the keys off of the vanity and onto the floor, which led to:

2. Gabby playing with the keys as they fell to the ground.

I had to re-arrange the order of the keys at least five or six times. I trusted that my memory worked. If not, I could always go online to find a diagram.

Once I was confident that the keyboard was completely dry, I painstakingly re-assembled all the keys. Then I went back to my office and turned on the computer. I plugged 'er in, opened Microsoft Word, and tested 'er out.

There were about quite a few keys that didn't work. The enter key was stuck, as well as the c,v,b,n, and m keys. And then the beeping started...beep, beep, beep. It wouldn't stop.

It was time for a new keyboard.

Fortunately keyboards aren't that expensive. I picked one up at Staples for $15. I have finally gotten used to this new one, but I miss the clicking sounds that my old keyboard had.

Besides, this new one has a new, important feature:

Spill resistance.

Where in the USA is Kitten Sandiego?

visited 19 states (38%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Best time to visit Villefranche-sur-Mer

I found this originally over at Vickie's. Then I found it on Vino Bodega. Thought I'd give it a shot.

In the interest of full disclosure, kittens, I counted airport layovers as visits for the following states:

• Illinois (Chicago O'Hare)
• Georgia (whatever the airport is in Atlanta)
• California (got on a cruise ship in LA, also was at LAX)
• North Carolina (really long layover in Charleston due to storms)

I have spent quality time in the other states, though.

Saturday 9: Wedding bell blues

1. If you have been or are married, tell us about your wedding. If you are not, tell us how would you want it to be.
Well, if the big day ever happens, I'd like to keep it small. I hail from a large Italian family, so this is impossible. Papa Cat is going to hand me a list of people whom I haven't seen since infancy and inform me that they have to be invited. In an Italian family, that's what you do.

That's about all I know right now. If I meet the right person, I'll give you more details. Right now I ain't gotta clue as to what my wedding would be like. Haven't given it much thought other than the size.

2. What age would you encourage your children to get married?
Late 20s/early 30s. I'd like for them to have the ability to be independent and take care of themselves (do laundry, cook, balance a checkbook) before they get hitched.

3. Who got married at the last wedding that you attended?
What WAS the last wedding I attended? Oh yeah...I think it was one of my neighbors. It was his 4th marriage, his wife's 3rd. The minister, after the readings, asked him, "What the hell are you thinking?"

4. Do you enjoy weddings and receptions?
For the most part, yeah. It all depends on who else got invited. Once I went to a wedding where I was the only one who knew the bride, but everyone else at my table was really friendly, so that made things a lot easier. It's not so much fun when people aren't so welcoming.

5. Have you cried at a wedding?
I have, yes.

6. Would you prefer a lavish event or a intimate ceremony?
See #1.

7. Have you ever been in some one’s wedding party? If yes, do tell.
I was a bridesmaid when my best friend from college got married. Her anniversary was this past Tuesday. I haven't seen her since her wedding day. We just kinda drifted apart.

8. Does a wedding make you happy and sentimental or grouchy and skeptical?
It depends on the circumstances of why the couple is getting married. I've been to a couple of weddings where I wasn't sure that the couple was marrying for the right reasons. In one case, my gut was right. They ended up divorcing a few years later.

9. Why do you think our divorce rate is so high?
There are a number of reasons. I think a lot of women get married for the sheer romance of having the white dress, the flowers, and the bridesmaids. I also think there are a lot of women who marry out of panic; they feel that if they're not married by a certain age, they've failed. There are some who think that marriage will correct the negative traits of their partners, or it will automatically make them more responsible people.

I've never been married, but I do know that relationships take a lot of work. There's a lot of compromise and give and take involved in their maintenance. They can't just function on love alone. Love is the foundation of any relationship, but it's not the sole factor that determines its success.

VGNO: They say it's Ann's Birthday!

Welcome to another edition of the Virtual Girls Night Out, or as we say it, the VGNO. Our weekly Friday night party is hosted by the lovely Ann.

Anyhoo, this is the first anniversary edition of the VGNO, which also coincides with Ann's birthday! Happy Birthday to you, ma chere amie! Ann is celebrating at a Coldplay concert tonight, lucky gal!

Every week Ann has a question for us gals (and guys, if they participate). This week's question is:

"What band or artist would you have playing at your birthday party?"

Well that's an easy one, kittens! For my B-day celebration, it's gotta be none other than Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band!

This is my all-time fave Bruce song, "Hungry Heart":

What are your weekend plans, kittens? I'm still housesitting. This current gig finishes up Monday afternoon. Then I have a week's worth of errands and appointments to catch up on.

I'm also bummed because, once again, most of my friends are out of town. Some are still on their European choir trip, some are camping or hiking, and others are with their families. I really can't go too far away because of my housesitting gig. I'm not complaining; I like housesitting, but I can't wait to be back home and sleep in my own bed again.

I was lazy today. I didn't do any reading; if you've been following my blog, in the past week I posted six book reviews. I needed a break from books! Tomorrow I'll resume; I just got to a point in Beginner's Greek where it's starting to get gooood.

Oh! Speaking of book reviews...yesterday I posted a review of Holly's Inbox, and guess what happened?

I got a comment on the review from the author himself!!!!!!

That's the first time I ever got a comment from an author on a book I've reviewed! Wow! I am soooo freakin' happy. That totally made my day. When I opened my inbox and saw who it was from, I literally went, "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

Well, I'm off to go blog-hopping now! Happy VGNO to one and all!!!

Friday Shoot-Out: Textures

I haven't been a participant in the Friday My Town Shoot Out for a while now. but finally had some time this week to take some photos.

This week's theme is Textures, and as you can see, I didn't have to go far to find some great pictures. All of these photos were taken in my house and my front yard.

We start off with a shot of my popcorn ceiling:

I got a package in the mail the other day. I always break down the box before I recycle it, and on the inside, I found the great texture of corrugated cardboard:


Here's a shot of one of my end tables. I've always admired the patterns you can find in wood. Yes, it is very shiny and shellacked. It's how I bought 'em.




Here's my jean jacket:



I don't know if you can tell here, but this is my cat's fur--one of my all-time favorite textures:



These are the rocks that line the gardens at my condo complex:


Tree bark is a great texture. Here's the bark of one of the crabapple trees in my front yard:



And here's a close-up of some lichen from the same tree:


I tried to get a close-up of the veins of the leaves on the tree as well. I don't think I was quite so successful:



Flower petals are a great texture, especially on a brightly colored flower like this one:



Grass is my favorite summer texture. I love going barefoot in the grass!




Here is some brick. These bricks support the sign in front of my condo complex:


Here's a patch of sidewalk in front of my condo:


And here's some moss in one of the gardens outside my condo:


And finally, here's my neighbor's doormat, which has some great texture in it:
Thanks for looking at my photos! Be sure to go to the Friday Shoot-Out blog (the link is at the beginning of this post) and see all of the other photos from the Friday Shoot-Out gangsters!

Holly's Inbox, by Holly Denham

Don't let the length of this book intimidate you. At 668 pages, yes, it qualifies as a chunkster, but since it is written entirely in E-mails, it goes by quickly. Very quickly. And there are so many delicious plot lines, it's hard to put down.

Holly Denham has a new job as a receptionist at a large bank in London. She has a lot to deal with during her first week on the job: a co-worker who doesn't seem to care for her, a bitchy PA, and a colleague who went to school with her, who seems to know something devious in Holly's past--but she's not letting on. Yet.

And that's just at work. Holly also sends lots of E-mails out to her best friends, Jason and Aisha. Jason works at a hotel where Holly was once a receptionist. Aisha has a rawther complicated love life and constantly looks to Holly for advice.

Then there's Holly's family, who all have moved to Spain. Mum keeps meddling in Holly's affairs, much to Holly's chagrin. Charlie, her brother and the only family member remaining in England, is trying to start a nightclub--a different sort of nightclub. Elderly Granny has just discovered the wonders of the Internet, and has started to sign Holly up for various different websites.

Holly's life does get rawther interesting juggling all of these kooky correspondences throughout the day. But the most interesting tidbits are reserved for Holly herself--and we find out about them through random E-mails from people other than her friends. Let's just say that the phrase "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive" is an appropriate description for Holly's character. Eventually, her lies--and her past--catch up to her. The untruths build the novel up to an interesting climax and finale, where Holly promises that "she'll be back."

This was delightful reading for me. It was quick, cheeky, humorous, and just plain dishy. I loved it, especially as it progressed. I loved learning little details that one might dismiss as unimportant, but then they crop up again later in the novel, and one sees how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Serena over at Savvy Verse and Wit had the author contribute a guest post. You can read that post by clicking here. Holly's Inbox has an interesting backstory; it actually started off as a website, which you can find by clicking here. And there's more to it, but I'll leave it to the author to explain what it is.

I won't tell you much about the ending, but it does leave room for a sequel. I hope it happens!

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, and my 2009 Chunkster Challenge. As always, click on the buttons in the right sidebar for archived lists of all of my reads!

Jo's Boys, by Louisa May Alcott

OK, I finished this at 11 PM last night, but I was so tired that I wasn't about to stay up till 1:30 again writing a blog post on a book I just finished. I still remember a lot of the details, so here it is.

Jo's Boys is the final book in the Little Women trilogy, and primarily follows the lives and adventures of the boys that were portrayed in Little Men. The novel starts ten years after Little Men ended. Plumfield, the house, still exists, but is now a part of Laurence College. Laurie's grandfather has passed away, and his legacy was used to help create this institution. All of the surviving March sisters now assist all of the students at the college, as well as live on campus.

However, this book doesn't focus primarily on the college, but the original Plumfield boys. Nat moves to Europe to study music and begin to make a living with his beloved violin. Dan moves out west to try his luck at farming, but tragedy strikes. Tommy studies medicine for only one reason: to be with his old school chum Nan. Nan, however, will not return the lovestruck boy's affections. Demi tries his luck at newspaper reporting, much to his mother's chagrin. Daisy is in love with Nat, but her mother won't let her marry him until he proves himself capable of making a good living.

This is a fitting end to the March family story, although the very last chapter seems a bit rushed. Even though I am a speed reader, I really didn't want this book to end. I didn't want to say goodbye to any of these characters.

I will say, though, that this is the most serious, and most philosophical, volume of the series. Alcott touches on such issues as women's suffrage and co-education. The Plumfield boys face some very serious adult challenges. The March sisters cope with watching their children become adults. There weren't as many lighthearted moments in this book as there were in the first two. It did not, however, take away from my enjoyment of the plot. The Little Women series is one that I intend to reread someday.

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge and my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge. As always, click on the buttons in the right sidebars for all of the archived lists.

Thursday Thunks: July 9, 2009

Wanna play along? Click here.


1. Do you have a guilty conscious?
I think you mean guilty conscience. And to answer your question, hell yeah. I was raised Catholic. That alone should explain it.

2. Do you still have your wisdom teeth?
Non. I had 'em yanked when I was 19. The day after I came home from college for the summer, as a matter of fact. They put me under the anesthesia, I was out cold, but I could still feel the good doc yank 'em out. But that's another story for another time...NOT!

3. Peanut butter--creamy or crunchy?
Definitely creamy. I don't like food in my food.

4. Get up off your butt. Take 5 steps. Which leg did you start out on?
I put my right leg in, I put my right leg out, I put my right leg in, and I shook it all about...

5. What color is your favorite kitchen utensil?
BAH! You really think that I know this? I don't have a favorite kitchen utensil. Just appliances. And for the record, my fave appliance, my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer that I bought from Craigslist for wicked cheap, is white.

6. Did you watch the Michael Jackson memorial/funeral?
Yes I did. I was on the verge of tears when Jermaine Jackson sang "Smile," but his daughter's remarks at the very end opened the floodgates. I just lost it then.

7. Do you know anyone who graduated from high school this year? Were you invited to their graduation party? Did you go?
I knew a lot of people who graduated from high school this year, but did not get invited to any parties. However, I did get invited to, and attended, a college graduation party.

8. White with black stripes or black with white stripes?
I would prefer not to look like a reverse zebra or someone in jail, thank you very much.

9. If we were to call your 6th grade teacher, what would they say about you?
I worked really hard in my classes, was polite, quiet, but could be very silly at times. I was your basic goody-two-shoes in 6th grade. When I was silly it wasn't for attention getting purposes; I was just being myself.

10. Can you draw a perfect circle?
With or without a compass? I'm assuming without. Let's see:


Not bad, but not perfect. For comparison purposes, I also traced the bottom of my coffee mug:


11. What was your favorite scratch and sniff sticker scent?
Whoa! Talk about a trip in the Wayback Machine, Mr. Peabody! I was always partial to the candy scents--chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, etc. I didn't much care for the fruity ones. However, anyone remember those fruity-scented markers? Oh, I loved those scents! The grape one was my favorite!

12. What does your sibling do for a living?
Sister Kitten works in the insurance industry. I will not disclose the name of the company, but let's just say our family owns a lot of red umbrellas.

13. How many light switches and electrical outlets are in the room you are in right now?
One light switch and three outlets. If you count the power strip underneath my computer desk, there are an additional five outlets.

14. Do you know sign language?
I can sign the alphabet easily. I used to know more signs, since I had a deaf neighbor when I was a kid, but not anymore. My favorite sign, however, has got to be the finger. I know it's not really a sign, but sometimes the flash of that middle digit can say it all...and so many different things, too...

15. Do you step on cracks in the sidewalk?
If I paid attention to that I would keep bumping into things. I'd rather not do that. Besides, I want my mother's back to remain nice and strong. She has osteoporosis, so she needs all the help she can get.

16. And the sheets on your bed look like...
Plain, ordinary sheets. Your regular 300-count, comfy, airy cotton. Oh yeah, and they're periwinkle, too.

17. What is something that everyone else has, but you don't?
DVR or TiVo. I want DVR in the worst possible way. However, I'm not about to pay CONcast cable an extra $20 a month for equipment rental and fees. I already pay $67 a month for a limited selection of channels, which they keep taking away from me and putting on digital. And it costs even more to upgrade to digital!

I feel another "Dear So and So..." letter comin' on! Hmmm...I've had some inspiration for quite a few posts these past few days! Stay tuned, dear readers!!!

Writers Workshop: Where do you want to go today?

It's been an awfully long time since I've done one of Mama Kat's Writers Workshop prompts, but today I feel inspired.

Here's today's prompt:
4.) List 5 things you like to do while camping...or 5 places you'd like to go.
(inspired by Kisatrtle)

OK, here's one thing you need to know about me: I don't go camping. I don't like bugs in my hair, sleeping in dirt, or wild creatures sneaking around my campsite--especially snakes. I have a serious serpent phobia here. The only thing good about camping is smores, but I can easily make 'em over my parents' firepit (and I have).

Anyhoo, in lieu of this, I am giving you a list of five places I'd like to go:

1. Australia
I've always wanted to visit the land Down Under, and after reading In a Sunburned Country, I'm more determined than ever to go. The people there seem so nice, so friendly, so laid-back...not to mention, their accents are rawther sexy.

And I wouldn't mind getting a glimpse of this guy, either:

2. California
There are various places in California I'd like to visit. I would love to do the tourist thing in Hollywood and L.A., of course, but I'd also like to visit the beaches in San Diego, as well as spend an extended stay in Napa Valley.

3. Quebec
I last visited Montreal back in 1995, and I really, really want to return. I went on a weekend trip with my college choir, and had so much fun. I only got a small taste of what Quebec has to offer. A good friend of mine recently spent a week there and told me all about her visit. Next year I'm begging her to take me along.

4. The Adirondacks/Lake George region
My maternal grandparents owned a cabin in upstate New York. We used to go every summer and spend a week there. Their cabin was right on the Hudson River, and they had a pontoon dock. I'd go fishing on the pontoon dock every day.

Hmmm...I feel a Friday Flashback post comin' on...

5. Italy
The land of my ancestors. My parents went on a big trip to Italy last year and loved every single minute of it. Some of my friends went on a trip a couple of years back with their choir and had some gorgeous pictures to share--especially in the sunflower fields of Tuscany.

There are many, many other places that I want to travel to, but since the prompt only required five, I'm going to stop here for now. Maybe I'll write a sequel post next week.

Now, what about you, kittens? Where do YOU want to go?

Tagged!

My good pal Vickie tagged me for this fun meme. Here's how it works:

The Rules:

1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.

2. Tag other people.

What is your current obsession?
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. I never watched much of Conan when he was on at 12:35, because I couldn't stay up that late, but now that he's on an hour earlier, I love to watch him. I love his sense of humor; I love geeks and goofballs. He just may replace Brian Williams as my TV boyfriend.

What are you wearing today?
A t-shirt, capri jeans, and my zip-up hoodie. It's cool for a July day in Connecticut. It feels more like a late spring day.

What’s for dinner?
Leftover pasta and vegetables.

What would you eat for your last meal?
My Mama Cat is one of the best cooks in the world. My last meal would have to be what I ask for my birthday meal every year: pork chops with mustard, her homemade macaroni and cheese, and her homemade applesauce. I'm drooling just writing about it.

What relaxes you the most?
Reading and sleeping.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
The beach, either in the Mexican Riviera or the Caribbean.

Which language do you want to learn?
I would love to learn Italian.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
Everything I need is within a ten-minute drive or less--shopping, mall, car repair, BOOKSTORE, etc.

What style is your current home decorated in?
There really is no style. It's very simple. I've got some framed prints on the walls, some framed crochet that Mama Cat gave me a few years back, and lots of pictures of family and friends. Most of the framed prints I got from tag sales.

If you were a time traveler what era would you live in?
The 1950s. I should have been a kid or a teen in the 1950s. Times seemed so innocent then. I honestly think I was born during the wrong decade. A lot of my personal values and beliefs just don't seem to jive with 21st century living.

What is your favorite color?
I adore purple. The deeper and plummier the shade, the better. :)

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
The $6 Lee jeans that I bought from Big Lots. They're my most comfy pair, and they fit me very well.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was 23, living with the rents, working full-time and prepping for my first year of grad school.

Describe your personal style?
Very casual. I don't really have much of a style, though. Can someone nominate me for What Not to Wear?

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
Once again, let me remind you that I am the Bookkitten. Take me to Borders!!!!!

What are you going to do after this?
Take a shower. I'm still housesitting right now and made a quick trip home to check on my girls. The outfit I described to you earlier is what I plan to wear today after I clean up. :)

What are your favorite films?
You can't beat any of the Disney animated films, or for that matter, their live action films from the 1960s and 1970s. Think The Parent Trap, Escape to Witch Mountain, and my personal fave, The Love Bug and all of its sequels.

Your favorite books?
I cannot emphasize my love for the Anne of Green Gables series enough. I must say, however, that the Little Women trilogy is rapidly becoming an addition to my all-time faves.

Do you collect anything?
I used to collect Beanie Babies. I don't anymore, but still display my collection of bears in my living room. Right now I collect refrigerator magnets from places I've traveled, but not much else.

What makes you follow a blog?
I really love how one's personal story unfolds over the life of a blog. It's what keeps me visiting over and over again. I feel like I've made many new friends without ever leaving the comfort of my home. I especially love a person's sense of humor.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Coming home for a spell, snuggling with the cats, visiting my pals in the blogosphere, and writing this post. :)

Ann's Question:What makes you comment on a blog?
If it's a post of something that interests me, I will comment. I usually try to comment whenever I visit someone, but if I can't think of anything to say, I don't. It's nothing personal; I just don't like to try too hard when leaving a comment. I like to say meaningful things, more than just "nice post!"

Amy's Question:What is your favorite thing to do when you have some free time?
Blogging, reading, cross stitch, cooking, scrapbooking, watching The Tonight Show. (Told ya I was obsessed!)

Tonya's question:What is a talent you wished you had?
I would love to be able to make my own clothes. Amber often posts her homemade works, and she does a phenomenal job. I would love to have even a fraction of her talent!

Gena's question:As you may know, I am all about "Serene Moments", so what is your "Serene Moment"?
This may not sound so serene, but for me, it is. I love looking out my window during thunderstorms and watching the rain fall. I love to watch rain fall. I find it very peaceful. I feel the same way about watching snow fall, too.

Noelle's question: If you could go to heaven who would you see, and why?
My maternal grandmother. She died of pancreatic cancer when I was 9 years old. I knew her as the grandma who gave me toys and took me places, but I never got to know her as a woman. She sounded like a really neat lady, and I would have ached for the chance to get to know her better.

Vickie's question: Who is your favorite actor?
OK, well, Conan really isn't an actor, so I don't think I'll count him here. But I've got two words for you: HUGH JACKMAN. Love him, love his Australian accent. Me-OW!

My question: Other than Blogger, Facebook, and/or Twitter, what are your most frequently-visited websites?
I like to visit CNN, YouTube, Yahoo! Mail, and my Gmail account.

And now, I tag thee:

Jenners
Septembermom
Jodi

...and whoever else would like to participate and join in the fun! Thanks Vickie!

Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott

Yes, it is way past my bedtime, but I always try to write my reviews right after I've finished a book, and I finished this one in just two sittings. Little Men, like Little Women, is a very charming, lovely novel, and a worthy successor to the first book in Louisa May Alcott's trilogy.

In Little Men, Jo is now married to a professor and has two young sons. She also, along with her husband, Fritz, runs the Plumfield School, a boarding school of fourteen boys and two girls. There are all kinds of personalities here at the school, but they are mostly orphaned, emotionally troubled, or have learning difficulties.

Nat is one of the boys, and he arrives at Plumfield at the beginning of the novel. He is an orphan who used to play the fiddle in the streets. He comes to Plumfield on the recommendation of Jo's old friend Laurie, who was her next door neighbor in Little Women. Dan is another orphan; he is much older, around sixteen or seventeen, and met Nat during their street urchin days. Tommy has a family, but is known as the "scapegrace" of the school and is constantly getting into mischief. It is implied that his family sent him to Plumfield in the hopes of acquiring some discipline and manners.

Demi is another one of the students at Plumfield; readers of Little Women will also know him as Jo's nephew or Meg's son. He is the bookworm and moral compass of the group. His twin sister, Daisy, is also a Plumfield student, and for a while, is the lone female. This changes when Nan enrolls at the school. While Daisy is refined and polite, Nan is a tomboy who likes to stir things up.

Alcott writes about all of these students, plus a few more, and their adventures over six months time. There is no real sequence to the story; like Little Women, Little Men is presented mostly as a series of vignettes. In spite of this, however, you do see character progression throughout the novel. For example, you get to see Dan mature from a tough, undisciplined fellow to a well-spoken, polite young man. Nan remains a tomboy, but Daisy helps her become less naughty.

Overall, there is one overarching theme: in spite of their differences, all of the students at Plumfield really love each other, and have particularly great affection for Jo and Fritz, whom the students know as Mother and Father Bhaer. There are occasional squabbles and scrapes, but each of the stories has a way of resolving itself in the end, with each character learning a lesson--very similar to the lessons that the four March sisters learned in each chapter of Little Women.

It is especially interesting to see how Jo has matured between Little Women and Little Men. In this book, Jo has entered the "Marmee" role, providing counsel, love, and support for each one of her students. She meets with each student every Sunday night and discusses their weekly reports in her "Conscience Book," a book which details all of the accomplishments, and possibly scrapes, that her students have done during the week. She has great affection for her boys, and often sees her girlhood self in some of them. The love and support that Jo and Fritz give their students is evident throughout the novel, and is what keeps the reader hooked.

I was left with the same warm feeling that I had after I finished Little Women. There is one last book in the trilogy, Jo's Boys, which I plan to start tomorrow. I'm currently finishing this at 1:39 AM EDT, and really can't stay up any longer. Besides, if I start Jo's Boys now, I'll get hooked and will possibly finish it by morning...but sleep calls!

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, and my 2009 2nds Challenge. As always, click on the buttons in the right sidebar for archived lists of all of my past reads!

Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

A year and a half ago, I had read Malcolm Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, and really admired his thinking processes. I had started to read Blink, but due to some difficult circumstances going on at the time, never finished it. (But I fully intend to pick it up again).

When his third book, Outliers, came out, I decided to wait to read it, and couldn't wait any longer. This is his best book yet.

On the front flap of the book's dust jacket, an "outlier", according to Gladwell, is a person "whose achievements fall outside normal experience." Bill Gates and the Beatles are considered to be outliers, but so are Silicon Valley billionaires as well as top New York lawyers. All of these groups are profiled in this book.

Outliers argues that success has little, if anything, to due with hard work, intelligence, or ambition. Gladwell insists that success is the result of the environment in which one is raised, cultural legacy, even the year and month of one's birth. In other words, success depends largely on chance.

Take Bill Gates, for instance. In the seventh grade his parents enrolled him in a private school in Seattle. During his second year, the school purchased a computer that had a direct link to a mainframe in downtown Seattle. The computer was an ASR-33, considered to be a state-of-the-art piece of equipment for its time--the year 1968. (p. 51)

Long story short, Gates eventually started spending time programming at the computer center at the University of Washington. He would program anywhere between twenty and thirty hours a week, including weekends. (p. 52)

Gates, Gladwell argues, had an opportunity to develop computer programming skills at an early age, and especially at the time when the industry was just developing. These skills, and the amount of time he spent with computers, were what helped Gates when he founded Microsoft.

The Beatles are a similar success story. In 1960, a man named Bruno, who owned several nightclubs in Hamburg, Germany, saw the Beatles play in Liverpool and invited them to play at his clubs. Between 1960 and 1962, they made five trips to Hamburg. Gladwell writes about their experiences:

On their first trip, they played 106 nights, five or more hours a night. On their second trip, they played 92 times. On their third trip, they played 48 times, for a total of 172 hours on stage. The last two Hamburg gigs, in November and December of 1962, involved another 90 hours of performing. All told, they performed for 270 nights in just over a year and a half. By the time they had their first burst of success in 1964, they had performed an estimated twelve hundred times. Do you know how extraordinary that is? Most bands today don't perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers. The Hamburg crucible is one of the things that set the Beatles apart. (pp. 49-50)

The examples of Bill Gates and the Beatles illustrate another argument that Gladwell makes about success: according to some experts, in order to achieve true expertise in any given field, one must put in 10,000 hours of practice.

If that's true, then that's a loooonnngg road to Carnegie Hall--long, but worth it.

That's just one of the factors of success that Gladwell gives. There are many more, which I won't go into detail about here. I will say, however, that the chapters on cultural legacy, particularly the one about Asian achievements in math, are very, very interesting, perhaps the best portion of the entire book. He puts up some very valid arguments here.

What I have always liked about Malcolm Gladwell is that he takes very complex, abstract ideas and writes about them in very simple terms that everyone can understand. He doesn't dumb his ideas down, not by any means. He makes them very accessible.

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, and my 2009 Dewey Decimal Challenge. As always , click on the buttons in the right sidebar for all of the archived lists!

Bored, bored, bored...really don't like it, really don't like it...

WARNING: I am a little whiny in this post today. Please bear with me.

Well, I had my relaxing, laid-back July 4th weekend. I am still on vacation. Now I am bored.

I got all my errands done last week. I'm setting up my volunteer schedule right now. The boredom will go away, but right now, I am just trying to figure out what to do with my time.

I went to bed tres late last night and woke up at 6. I am still housesitting. I only woke up early because my friend left her car behind, and someone was picking it up to take it to the mechanic for some routine maintenance. So, I had to be up, dressed, and looking presentable when the guy came. My friend said, "Oh, he'll be there somewhere 'round 7 or 7:30."

He arrived at 9. I didn't sweat it; I just made some coffee, had breakfast, and read the god-awful, newly revised Hartford Courant. (My friend has tried and tried again to cancel her subscription, but she keeps getting sucked into the sales pitch). The guy said he'd drop the car back off around 5.

Now that I no longer felt prisoner in the home, I needed to get out. But where would I go? I didn't feel like shopping, was too tired to exercise, so I decided to go home, back to my kitties.

They were glad to see me. Gabs is on the desk now, stretched out and napping.

Napping...good idea!

I'd go to the beach, gladly, but it's not warm enough. At 75 degrees, it's still cool enough for me to walk around in a t-shirt and jeans as opposed to shorts.

It hasn't really felt like summer yet. With the exception of a few gratefully appreciated sunny days here and there, it's been raining like mad here in our fair state of Connecticut. It's scheduled to rain tomorrow and Wednesday, but it's finally going to get hotter by the end of the week. Maybe there will be beach days after all!!!

It also doesn't help that almost half of my friends are out of town. My friends in the choir are currently on a tour of Prague, Bucharest, and Vienna--jealous, yet very, very happy for them. The friend I'm housesitting for is touring the same cities, but on a river cruise. (I've already told both parties to keep an eye out for them...that would be wild if they met each other for the first time!)

The other half of my friends are working during the day or tending to their families.

Well, now that I'm home, I can get my camera. I think I'll go check what this week's Friday Shoot-Out topic is, take a nap, go back to my friend's house, and take some pictures.

OK, now I've got a plan. Boring day...over! Thanks for letting me figure it out!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Just found this via J. Kaye's marvelous book blog, and I'd thought I'd share with you what I'm reading right now.

I'm currently in the middle of four books, all of which are very good. Here's a quick summary on each one:

Little Men: I started this this morning, and am two chapters in. It's got the same warm, gentle tone that Little Women has, and I am enjoying it.

Outliers: I've read Malcolm Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, and really liked that one. I like the way he thinks.

Beginner's Greek: I'm already casting Cameron Diaz in the role as the female protagonist.

Holly's Inbox: This is a book told entirely through E-mails. Because of this, it's proven to be a very quick read.

More detailed reviews of each of these books will come once I finish them. Kittens, what are you all reading?

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

I was presented with the gift of Little Women when I was in the 4th or 5th grade; I can't remember. It sat on my bookshelf for years and years, never read, but very worn, because I'd pick it up now and then and flip through the pages to see what all the fuss was about. I knew it was a classic, and I had picked up its two sequels over the years, but never, ever read it.

Until now.

And I regret that I didn't read it sooner.

Little Women is one of those books that just--and forgive me for sounding corny here--warms your heart and leaves you contented and happy. It's a really lovely book, and you can really feel the warmth, love, and support that the March sisters all share with each other. Like all siblings, they have their own scrapes, arguments, and disagreements, but they recognize how important family bonds are, and this is a family bond that is very difficult to break.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part chronicles the childhood of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Meg is the oldest, who only wants the very best, refined things and experiences that life has to offer. She is polite, well-mannered, and feminine. Jo, the second oldest, is a tomboy with a quick temper and a sharp tongue, who couldn't care less about refinement or politesse. Beth, the third March sister, is quiet, polite, does what she is told, and is the moral compass of the quartet. Amy, the youngest, is spoiled, a little stuck-up, and will do anything to fit in with her classmates.

The novel opens at the start of the Civil War. The March family patriarch, a minister, is away at war. The mother, whom the girls call Marmee, does some volunteer work for the war effort. Marmee and her daughters are extremely close, and every one of the March sisters goes to her for counsel, comfort, and confidence. (Man, I really like how I wrote that last line!)

The first portion of the novel is presented as a series of vignettes, most with a little moral at the end, where one of the March sisters learns a lesson in vanity, want, or controlling temper. For example, in one chapter, Meg goes away on a trip with the wealthy Moffat clan. Meg has always envied the Moffats and their high society ways. However, she learns very quickly that wealth does not guarantee happiness or harmony. Sometimes the sisters learn their lessons from experience, but other times from the comforting words of gentle Marmee, whom I imagine many girls would love to have as their own mother.

The second portion of the novel chronicles the girls' adulthood. Meg gets married, and finds that married life cannot survive on love alone. Amy matures and becomes interested in art and languages, and eventually finds herself on a trip abroad with some relatives. Jo becomes a published author and works to support her family through her writing; she eventually moved to New York to become a governess. Beth's health declines, but remains very supportive of her sisters and all of their accomplishments.

There are other memorable characters in Little Women other than the March family. The Laurences, the Marches' neighbors and benefactors, add a special part to the story. Elderly Aunt March also plays a prominent role. It is wonderful to see how the relationships among all of the characters deepen and mature over the years, and you feel like you're an eyewitness to it all. Alcott makes the readers an integral part of the story; she often addresses them directly.

I won't spoil you with the details of the ending, kittens, other than I will tell you that it is one of the best endings to a book that I ever read, and I found myself on the verge of tears as I finished. I really didn't want this book to end. I am about to embark on its sequel, Little Men, and hope that the second part of the trilogy doesn't disappoint. It has a lot to live up to.

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 1st in a Series Challenge, my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, as well as my 2009 Chunkster Challenge. As always, click on the buttons in the right sidebar for archived lists of all my challenges!

In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson

I am currently writing this in the middle of the afternoon on the Fourth of July, while it's still fresh in my head. To think, I spent this most American of holidays, poolside, reading a book about...Australia.

Bill Bryson is one of my very favorite authors. I have read a few of his wonderful tomes; my two favorites are A Walk in the Woods, his account of hiking the Appalachian Trail, and The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, where he travels the USA in, of all things, a Chevette. Anyone remember those cars, kittens, the hallmark of GM's glory days?

Anyhoo, pretty much anything involving Bill Bryson and traveling is guaranteed to be a wonderful book, and In a Sunburned Country is just that. Up till I had finished this book, I didn't know much about Australia except for these random facts:

• It is the only continent that is also its own country.
• It is the only continent lying completely below the equator.
• It's capital is Canberra, not Sydney.
• Kangaroos and duckbill platypuses live there.
• Two big symbols of Australia are the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
• Hugh Jackman (SWOON!), Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Naomi Watts all hail from there.
• Sydney hosted the Olympics in 2000.
• It's inhabitants have cool accents and colloquialisms.

Bryson's book is thoroughly researched, and takes you all across Australia, to areas of the continent that are still either sparsely or non-populated. Even though it's a small continent, you still have to travel hundreds of miles between tourist destinations and/or cities and towns. He writes about roads that are so isolated, that if your car breaks down in the middle of the hot Australian desert, you're basically screwed.

He also writes about how Australia, in spite of its poor soil, has produced some of the most spectacular plant species in the world, plants that cannot live anywhere else. In this same vein, he writes about the hundreds of species of poisonous insects that can kill a human being instantly. He spends quite a bit of time writing about this throughout the book, particularly in the beginning, where he writes about his fear about being stung by a jellyfish during his attempts to learn how to boogieboard.

Bryson's specialty lies in two areas, one of which is describing cultural phenomenon that are unique to Australia. For example, in chapter 7, Bryson writes about his experience listening to the radio while traveling the eight hundred miles from Canberra to Adelaide:

"As if to emphasize the isolation, all the area radio stations began to abandon me. One by one their signals faltered, and all those smoky voices so integral to Australian airwaves--Vic Damone, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra at the mindless height of his doo-bee-doo phase--faded away, as if being drawn nby some heavy gravity back into the hole from which they had escaped. Eventually the radio dial presented only an uninterrupted cat's hiss of static but for one clear spot near the end of the dial. At first I thought that's all it was--just an empty clear spot--but then I realized that I could hear the faint shiftings and stirrings of seated people, and after quite a pause, a voice, calm and reflective, said:

'Pilchard begins his long run in from short stump. He bowls and...oh, he's out! Yes, he's got him. Longwilley is caught leg-before in middle slops by Grattan. Well, now what do you make of that, Neville?'

'That's definitely one for the books, Bruce. I don't think I've seen offside medium-slow fast-pace bowling to matchi it since Baden-Powell took Rangachangabanga for a maiden ovary at Bangalore in 1948.'

I had stumbled into the surreal and rewarding world of cricket on the radio." (p. 105)

Bryson's other strength lies in his writings about forgotten Australian heroes. Take, for instance, the tale of explorer Ernest Giles:

"In the same year that he lost Gibson in the desert and stumbled 120 miles through appalling heat [1874], Giles also explored the central regions around the area known as Yulara. One day he struggled up a small rise and was confronted with a sight such as he could never have dreamed of finding. Before him, impossibly imposing, stood the most singular monolith on earth, the great red rock now known as Uluru. Hastening to Adelaide to report the find, he was informed that a man named William Christie Gosse had chanced upon it a few days ahead of him and had already named it Ayers Rock in honor of the South Australia governor.

Eventually, too old to explore, Giles ended up working as a clerk in the goldfields of Coolgardie, where he died in obscurity in 1891. Today he is almost entirely forgotten. No highway bears his name." (pp. 246-247)

I really could go on about the different topics that Bryson explores, but if I did, I would essentially be rewriting the book. In a Sunburned Country is a very affectionate view of the Land Down Under. What I have always liked about Bryson's writing is that he writes as if you were right there with him. Open the book, read a few paragraphs, and suddenly, you're with him in Australia. I love writers who have the ability to do this, to take me places in the comfort of my own chair. I especially love how Bryson takes his readers off the tourist path, to places that tourists wouldn't necessarily explore on their own. He really gets into writing about the depth and breadth of Australian culture.

Before I read this book, one of my goals in life was to travel to Australia. Now I want to go there even more.

This book is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, as well as my 2009 Summer Vacation Reading Challenge. As always, click on the buttons in the sidebars for the archived lists of all of my reads!

Clip of the Week: The Jackson 5 and Carol Burnett

The Jackson 5 made many appearances on The Carol Burnett Show during their heyday. This is one of my favorite clips from their guest spots.

With Michael Jackson's memorial service coming up on Tuesday, I thought I'd pay this little tribute. Enjoy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!!!

What's the 4th without a little Bruce as part of the soundtrack?



Happy 4th everyone! Have fun and stay safe!