2005
watching the fire as we grow old
maura @ 9:58 pm
Ugh, man, it is hitting me that this site is sooooooo ugly. I was supposed to be working on that, long ago, but I totally lost my steam. And recently Jonathan even gave me some nifty php to help me out, but still I remain steam-free.
Maybe that is my project for next week’s Free Friday. Today’s was spent at a dr. appt. and cleaning the house and reading. And a small nap at my desk, which I wished had been longer.
Oh, and I’ve found my fall soundtrack (for now): this very smoove rad pop gal. Yes, I know this came out last spring, I am behind the times.
So the recent trauma is that the library really has my balls in a vice (if I had balls, which of course I don’t, so I guess that doesn’t seem very traumatic at all. New metaphor needed, alert the media!). Have I blathered yet about how much I am LOVE LOVE LOVING the library in recent years? With the new eXtreme we-chose-time-over-money economy here in our household has come a greatly reduced leisure budget, thus much less buying of books (which, frankly, is a good thing on a space level [where’s the space level? can you take the space elevator there?], too, because we are seriously running out of habitable room in our apt.). Which of course leads to much more borrowing of books from the library, or sharing, as we like to tell Gus: “the library shares its books with us, isn’t that nice?” The Brooklyn Public Library actually has a really excellent collection, and you can request books from any branch in the borough to be sent to the branch near you. And also put books on hold, which is good when you want to read a new book that the whole rest of the borough wants to read, too.
Hence, the vice: 3 of my requests came in at the same time, all new (-ish) books. We took two of them to the beach (Freakonomics [thanks for the recommendation, Anne!] and The Historian) and both of us read them with fair speed. But the third, Collapse, I neglected to bring to the beach. So I’ve been trying to read it before it’s due back on Tuesday (and of course I can’t renew it, someone else has a hold next). It’s like grad school all over again, and not just because he uses a lot of archaeological sources: I have 350 pages to read by Tuesday!
So leave me alone, you, I have work to do! And beer to drink! Yeah! Party like it’s 1992 or so!
P.S. from last time, I completely forgot one of my most favorite time v. money essays, which I initially read way back in first year soc. More on all of that another time.
P.P.S. I am quite liking Collapse, actually, even though he remains a huge proponent of environmental determinism, as in Guns, Germs and Steel. I do love me a good synthesis though, such a refreshing alternative to snooze-inducing, minutia-filled site reports. And he talks a lot about Norse Greenland, who wouldn’t love that?! (Answer: a dufus, that’s who. The story of Norse Greenland ROCKS HARD!)
P.P.S.S. I said leave me alone!!!
2 comments on “watching the fire as we grow old”
[…] Gentle readers, you may remember from last time that I was practically pulling allnighters to finish my book before it was due back to the library. […]
Sahlins rocks the house, yo.