|
|
||
|
the latest
waddle: good morning, wordpress - 10:36 a.m. , 2009-07-03 elaborate murder attempt - 2:56 p.m. , 2009-07-01 building a tractor in the basement - 10:42 a.m. , 2009-06-19 ask no questions tell just a few lies - 3:17 p.m. , 2009-06-09 my long lasting flavor really lasts long - 1:10 p.m. , 2009-06-04
|
WHO CARES WHAT I THINK (BOOK REVIEWS) 1. I was surprised at my enjoyment of Nobody Passes, since part of me was expecting a so-so academic book that I would slog through because of my insistence on reading all things gender-related. While not every essay is stellar (that would be a lot to ask), there was enough good stuff in there to keep my brain bouncing around the boy-girl baloney for a good long time. An unexpected side effect of reading about FTM transsexuals was that I got kind of nostalgic for the concept of "butch," and wished there were more room inside the "female" label to express different looks and identities. I have no doubt that transgender people need to transition, but it's sort of abstractly sad, to my idealistic brain, that their gender expression couldn't be happily accommodated inside their original body because of society's uptight binary system. Oh never mind, I am probably just bringing my feminine-appearing, 65% straight woman baggage to this topic, and I should shut up before some reader takes all this out of context and accuses me of hate speech. 2. Feather In The Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos is a memoir of the author's forced separation from her "rightist" family during the Cultural Revolution in China. This book was just okay, although I became extremely annoyed when several Amazon and Goodreads people criticized it for being "bleak," "grim," and "depressing." Well excuse the hell out of Emily Wu, I am sure she would have loved to have had a cheerier famine and her dad would have enjoyed a more pleasant reeducation camp, but it just did not work out that way. 3. Now I am reading The White Tiger, which is really great and not your usual "India book." Recommended! IT'S LIKE A POTLUCK IN HERE: EMPHASIS ON "POT," NOT "LUCK" 1. Did you know that nothing is truly vegetarian at the stupidly-named fast-food Chinese place known as Panda Express? I do not believe I have ever eaten at a Panda Express, and I am somewhat of a "don't ask, don't tell" vegetarian when it comes to things like broth. However, now that I have been told, I won't ask. I mean I won't order. I can't un-learn Chicken Knowledge. 2. I am sad to note that the big black bra is gone. Bigblackbra.com seems to be a free domain, by the way. Or maybe we should capitalize it (Big Black bra) and see if Steve Albini is interested. Never any boob support in this town! Set it on fire, lingerie! Okay that was dweeby in a very specific 1986 kind of way. I apologize. 3. So far I hate this summer. It has rained every damn day, and my very outward-bound child is going absolutely stir-crazy. It is weird for me to be complaining about a chilly damp summer, since I am sun-avoidant and lazy, but when you have actual summer-type plans you tend to expect summer-type weather. 4. However, in between rains Nora is amassing quite the bug collection. We have about fifty pillbugs in two containers, each featuring the finest in bug furnishings (moss, sticks, drops of popsicle juice, and flowers to pretty up the place). Each time we catch and release Nora is reluctant to give them up, but I remind her how sad it would be if the bug bed-and-breakfast turned into a bug charnel house, and then she agrees. 5. Why can't I get paid for playing typeracer? That would be an ideal job. With a nice yearly bonus if I make the high-score board. 6. The tiny disasters of today: I stepped on the always-underfoot Rocko the Cat, and thus called an innocent animal "fuckface" first thing in the morning; I accidentally started to brush my teeth with Nora's vile-tasting Bubble Berry Whatever paste; and a turning SUV splattered me with gutter-water as I exited the subway. NICE. 7. Later I posted on a local listserv, giving my personal, real-name opinion about something, and immediately some guy sends me an email saying, "Please call me when you get a moment" and gives his work number (some law firm). Well, how imperious. And guess what: No! I won't! I wrote him back saying (nicely) that I had nothing to discuss, and that I certainly was not going to just pick up the phone and chat on his say-so. Even if I weren't phone-phobic! What happens on the messageboard stays on the messageboard, you know? He responded that he just wanted to say how strongly he agreed with me, and welcome to the list, etc, and I was like HOW WEIRD. And also QUIT ORDERING WOMEN TO PHONE YOU. 8. Later still I went out at lunchtime to buy an anniversary gift of irritating old-timey jazz music for my retro husband. (I have been married to that sucka MC for thirteen years now.) I will just bop out to the "Virgin Megastore," thought I. It is the purveyor of compact disks located closest to my office. Except not anymore, for some clothing store has taken its place! Shows how often I shop Michigan Avenue. I made the trek to Borders instead, and on the way I eavesdropped on a family of Japanese tourists with a boy about Nora's age. One of the women was saying something lengthy and logistical-sounding in Japanese, which ended with the English words "parking lot." Then the boy burst out laughing and repeated "parking lot" several times. Ha ha ha ha ha ha parking lot! I guess he just liked the way it sounded. ---mimi smartypants wears a cobra snake for a necktie. |
