Goodbye, Summer. Goodbye.

Today is the end of the pay period for the month of August, which means I am one check closer to freedom. After we take our trip into Southeast Asia (only 12 days away!), hubby and I have decided to return to our paper-pushing jobs and give our 30 days’ notice. It’s time to move forward with new goals, even if it means stepping outside our comfort zone and living on Ramen and love.

I’m a bit homesick these days. I miss our friends and family, and I’m sad that I won’t be able to watch summer fade into fall. I say ‘summer fade into fall’, because people always say that – but really, I think fall is quite as colorful as summer. At least, in some parts of the world…but I suppose in some parts of the world, neither is very colorful. Ok, I’m rambling now.

The point I’m trying to make is that I want a job that’s closer to home, and I’m going to make that happen very soon. So goodbye to summer, and goodbye to climbing the career ladder. I’m afraid of heights anyway.

A Death in the Family by James Agee

Ahh, the beauty of words. The way an author can make them weave and commingle and intertwine to form a sentence, a chapter, a story.

If you take nothing more from this novel, just grant yourself the freedom to bask in Agee’s luxurious prose.

A Death in the Family is largely autobiographical, so it’s no small wonder that Agee dazzles us with his wonderful character development. In a novel at once heartbreaking and heartwarming, the reader will explore life, loss, relationships, faith, human frailty and the ways in which we find the strength to cope.

Part of the last passage spoken by Andrew is particularly lovely and unifies the emotional experiences of the central characters. The butterfly is a symbol of hope and an embodiment of the soul.

A few enjoyable phrases:

How far we all come. How far we all come away from ourselves. So far, so much between, you can never go home again.

The less he believed them, the more he was led to believe them, and the easier it was for him to believe them. The more alone he felt, the more he wanted to feel that he was not alone, but one of them.

Without either desiring to see her face, or caring how it looked, she saw that it had changed; through the deep, clear veil her gray eyes watched her gray eyes watch her through the deep, clear veil.

I’ll end up reading this one again some day – I’m sure of that. To date, this is, without a doubt, my favorite novel on the 100 Best list.

Things I Love Thursdays

Lunch hour with my husband. – Actually, I get to have lunch with him everyday, but it’s nice to pause, reflect and be thankful for it.

Grey’s Anatomy marathons. – I love this show. Truthfully, I wish the characters really existed and were my friends. I preordered season 4 on Amazon.

Carrot cake and coffee in the afternoon. – I have to admit that I never really gave a sniff for carrot cake, before I had a slice with coffee. Mmm, a perfect blend.

Alison Krauss’ song Restless. – She has the sweetest, most wholesome voice. This song is like a big hug or a cup of chamomile tea: warm and comforting and gentle.

Greeting cards by Coffeehouse. – They come across sincere, not sappy. Cutesy illustrations and a lot of pretty pastels, too.

The delicious proximity of Fridays. – So close. So very close.

Heat Wave

Today, we had a power outage at work. It was incredibly hot without the A/C. On the bright side (and I promised yesterday that I was going to look on the bright side), it was nice to take a break from the computer. My eyeballs, at least, are thankful.

I’m actually quite tired (energy zapped from the heat wave) and don’t have much of anything to say. Plus, it’s time to lock up the office and head for the hills.

However, today’s music was brought to you by: Zero 7. Pure, smooth and mellow. Breathe a little harmony through your ears.

Office Etiquette…Or Lack Thereof

What IS appropriate: delineating what is/what is not communal office property and adhering to those rules

What is NOT appropriate: drinking someone else’s very last and clearly marked Diet Pepsi

And by clearly marked, I mean my name written in all CAPS and black, permanent marker right across the tab of the soda. If this was a first offense, I could forgive and forget. If it was a second, I could at least forgive. But if it was a sixth (oh yes, a SIXTH)…well, the gloves simply must come off.

This is why I have a hard time keeping mum. It usually comes back to bite you on the arse.

*No ranting tomorrow, promise.*

Growing Pains

So here’s what.

I was really inappropriately rude to my boss today. Actually to my boss’ boss. But my inappropriateness was a direct response to his inappropriateness, so I feel justified. I’ve never mastered the art of ‘holding my tongue’, and I probably never will. I have patience for dogs and children, but not so much for adults who act like children…or dogs, as it happens.

We have been having a lot of sand storms lately – a great fog of hazy, grey opacity that coats everything in a fine (and sometimes, not so fine) layer of soot and wreaks havoc on our electronics. And today the thought struck me: what if it’s not really a sand storm, but rather a physical manifestation of Stupid out there floating around? But that’s just me waxing philosophical on you. As my mother-in-law said, “the ignorant can read a book, but there’s no cure for stupid.”

Vacation is not coming fast enough to stifle my feelings of oppression and override my need to escape. If I were being rational, I would think to myself – gosh, Krista, how lucky you are to HAVE a job. But I’m not wearing my rational pants today…so bear with me, as I rant.

Why, oh why, do we ever have to grow up?

My Heart Is Broken

Maybe I’m the last to know, but I just found out that Polaroid is discontinuing instant film. As in, not making anymore. At all. For the rest of time.

Does anyone else think this is wrong?? My favorite pictures from childhood are Polaroids. An instant is like a fingerprint – you can’t ever reproduce it. It’s 100% one of a kind. Don’t get me wrong – I love digital as much as the next guy. But can’t we have our cake and eat it, too?? I suppose the next step is to stop printing books and use only e-copies, or to stop playing musical instruments and just simulate them on some sort of gaming system. Hey…wait a minute…

Call me sentimental, call me a fool. But for the love of all things truly original, give us back the Polaroid!

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone

Briefly...

A grim novel about cultural degeneration in 1960’s America. You know from about the 15th page that the principals are never going to pull off their drug heist. And you have little sympathy for them, not because they are weak or ignorant, but because they merely drift through life – vacant, listless, and devoid of moral decency.

I'll be moving on to James Agee's A Death in the Family this evening, as the 47th novel in my reading challenge found here: http://kvead15.googlepages.com/home .

Today's music: Brandi Carlile in all her emotionally-charged, wide-ranging vocal glory. You'll love that break in her voice in "The Story".

Beer and Beer with Beer on Top

One of the hardest things about living and working in a Muslim country is foregoing that cold, bubbly, life-sustaining substance that we all know and love: beer.

Lincoln has a great little brewery down in the Haymarket district that produces some really fantastic stuff. And when hubby and I went snowboarding in Beaver Creek last winter, we made sure to stop at the Odell and New Belgium breweries in Ft. Collins on the way home. If you trust me, hunt these down:

Empyrean Brewing Co (Licoln, NE)
Vanilla Porter – sweet, malty goodness makes this our #1 pick.
Third Stone Brown – dark but not heavy and smooth as a baby’s…well, you know.
Oatmeal Stout – thick, hearty and capped with a cream-colored froth of almost buttery deliciousness.

New Belgium Brewing Co (Ft. Collins, CO)
2 Below – very floral winter ale with a serious punch! Two of these bad boys, and hubby is all silly and googly-eyed (oops, did I tattle?). Seasonal only, so get it while it’s hot…er, cold.
Frambozen – skyrockets in flight, raspberry delight :) Also seasonal.
Mothership Wit – organically-produced wheat beer with a citrus-and-spice tang. For all my fellow tree-huggers.

Odell Brewing Co (Ft. Collins, CO)
Cutthroat Porter – smooth, creamy texture with the flavor of chocolate and coffee. 3 of my most favorite things all mixed together in liquid form. Sigh.

Things With Leaves

My coworker is on vacation, and I am killing her plant. I have watered it, talked to it, dusted its leaves, and fertilized its soil. This is particularly bad, because I want to plant a garden one day and clearly do not have a green thumb. Oh, and also bad because she won’t be back for another week, giving me ample time to finish the plant’s total annihilation.

To tell the truth, I think the plant is pouting (and based on this suspicion, I deduced that the plant is spoiled and named it Fifi). Fifi is an ivy and lives on the file cabinet behind me. I also think she is a bit of a masochist, who is cruelly willing her leaves to turn yellow and brown and brittle for the sole purpose of getting me into deep shit with my coworker. Either that, or I think I need this upcoming vacation really badly. Imagine, suspecting an ivy of sabotage…

…when everyone knows it’s always the ferns.

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

Using a lighter form of satire, Waugh delivers a firm poke in the eye to high society by exploring concepts of morality, corruption, and tradition.

Brenda and Tony Last, the proverbial golden couple, share a happy, if uneventful, life at their country estate, Hetton. Driven largely by boredom, Brenda begins an affair with a man who can best be described as a social parasite. As her affair continues, Brenda begins to assume leech-like characteristics of her own. Following the death of the Lasts’ only child (and the only lovable character in the whole darn book) in a riding accident, Brenda seeks a divorce. Tony goes to great lengths to grant her request, but Brenda finally crosses a line when her demands grow so large that it would require the sale of Tony’s beloved family home to fulfill them.

For the first half of the novel, I wanted to drop kick Brenda from here to next Tuesday. Then, when Tony refused to grow a pair, I wanted to turkey stomp him as well. The characters are notably similar in that none seem to feel remorse. Not for infidelity, or greed, or indifference. The couple is devoid of originality, real intellect, or chivalry in its true sense. Brenda is repugnant for her infidelity. Tony is contemptible for his cowardice.

The novel itself is delightfully well-composed. Waugh maintains a lovely balance; the tone is cynical but not dark, ironic but not thoroughly depressing. Some passages are highly comical, but it is certainly not a funny story. It becomes clear that the characters are hopelessly incorrigible, but still the novel is not bleak. Waugh forces us to question our notion of civilization; we reject complacency as stagnation but also become conscious of the barbarism implicit in our so-called evolution.

I say: read it.

Hungry For More

I lived in NYC from 2001-2006 and have been feeling an eensy bit nostalgic in the last few days. I think its largely food-related, though. I think the last really great meal I had was the filet mignon with creamy walnut and gorgonzola sauce at Herve on St. Thomas in June - best steak ever. Ever, I tell you, and I know from steak.

Anyhoo, if you're ever in the Big Apple, these are a few of my local* favs:

Cafeteria: for breakfast - Green Eggs and Ham (scramblies with pesto and goat cheese and the juiciest chunk of country ham) or The Waffle with berries and cinnamon cream. Hubby and I agree to disagree.

7A: for breakfast/brunch - LOTS o' food for the money and so easy to find (it's on 7th St. and A Ave.)

Baraonda: this is my numero uno. The sun-dried tomato in olive oil concoction they serve with the bread is delish, as is the nutella crepe for dessert. I usually get the tuna tartare for an appetizer, and a simple dish of pasta bolognese for the main course - but that's just me. I love the Valentino Cortazar portraits that cover the walls; if I could have figured out a way to filch one without getting caught, make no mistake that I very likely would have done it.

Uva: for bird food and cocktails - sample the Ubriaco Veneto and do let the bartender select a wine to accompany

Olive Tree Cafe: late night - have the wings and a drink. They have a lot of salads too, for those of you who eat the stuff. There's also a comedy show in the cellar, where people like Ray Romano and Dave Chappelle started out.

I realize I've left out lunch, but only because I consider lunch the least fun of the three meals.

*Note that I said local. Of course there are fancier, trendier, and "better" restaurants - but most New Yorkers (read: I) can't afford them. If you can, by all means - eat and be merry. If not, the above were easily affordable on a bartender's wages.

Egad, I'm a Blogaholic!

Sheesh, no wonder people are doing this. It's like sex and drugs and my very own AmEx Black all rolled into one...ok, maybe that's going a bit far, but it IS fun. Anyhow, I've been having a hard time staying focused at work lately. Dan and I are leaving for Thailand and Cambodia in 25 days, and it's pretty much the only thing on my mind. I had to get a new passport, and if you can believe it, my new picture is worse than my old one :) You wouldn't think it was possible, since I was 15 in the old one and have since learned a lot about waxing and make-up...

We had to pick between the north and south of Thailand, because we only have two weeks and won't have time to see both. Since we did the Caribbean in June, we figured that we had enough of beaches and decided to go with the jungle-y, mountain-y northern area roundabouts Chiang Mai. I know there'll be a cooking class in the future, some elephants, lots of hiking, and *fingers crossed* waterfalls and river-rafting.

Oh! And the first edition hardcover of Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn that I bought last week arrived safe and sound to my mother-in-law's house. Yay! She'll be keeping it warm and cozy for me, while hubby and I are off trekking the globe.

More Irons in the Fire...

I guess I'll jump in with both feet. Flickring, blogging and now: 43 Things. I made my "Life List" early last year, and I'm such a sucker for writing things down and then checking the boxes. It gives me the most euphoric sense of accomplishment. Credit goes to Beckie for exposing me to this online goal-setting community. To play along, come see me at:
http://www.43things.com/person/kvead15

In other news, I finished Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter last night. An ironic tale of duty and love, religion and spirituality, honor and responsibility, success and failure. I love a book in which you, as the reader, know more about the story than the other characters do. By highlighting the characters' inability (unwillingness?) to understand each other, maybe it will encourage a little more compassion for humanity in the reader...

Loving this quote: "Innocence must die young if it isn't to kill the souls of men."

The Saga Begins

Guess what I did at work today? Well, I started a blog, naturally...

I've always been the last to get on board with this sort of thing. Napster was kaput before I ever heard of it. My ancient junior-year English teacher introduced me to Google. By the time I decided Myspace might deserve a second glance, the world had already moved on to Facebook. And so, finally, I've arrived here. A little late in the game and still slightly bewildered, but hey - there's a first time for everything.