Yesterday I had my hair highlighted at the salon I've been going to for a few years now. My usual stylist was booked up all week, so I had someone else do it. The guy was nice, though I wasn't terribly impressed with him, especially considering that his rates were about $10 more than the gal who usually does my hair.
He gave me some magazines to read while he mixed up the color. I chose Cosmopolitan, as I haven't read a mag like that in years. It was mostly dumb ads and even dumber articles, but I paged through it to keep myself entertained.
He came back and asked if I was nearsighted or farsighted. I'm a little dim sometimes, so I just thought he was making small talk about glasses, since we both wear them. I told him I am nearsighted and he said, "Great, then I'll just take your glasses and put them over here so I won't bump them when I'm working." My glasses came off and I was left with a magazine in my lap that I couldn't read.
Apparently all nearsighted people except me can see as far as their lap. So I felt kind of dumb. Do I tell him I actually can't see the magazine in my lap and ask for my glasses back? Do I close the mag and pretend that I didn't want to read it anyway, and just sit back and relax and close my eyes? No, I decided to pretend I could see the magazine just as clear as when I was wearing my glasses.
So I paged through it and squinted every so often to try and discern which pages contained tacky bra ads and which had actual content. I didn't want to look stupid (!) and stare too long at some perfume ad featuring a scantily clad model. The blocks of bleary text and blobs of color weren't very interesting to look at. I had to silently chuckle while I was paging through, pretending to read. Anyone else probably would have just fessed up.
When he was finished with the foils, I asked if I could have my glasses back, you know, "in case I need to get up and walk somewhere while I'm waiting." I got my glasses back and then paged through the magazine again to see what I was really looking at. One of the articles I spent a good amount of time on turned out to be something along the lines of "Hot Guys Talk About Their Most Horrifying Dating Disasters!"
He took my glasses again when he was styling and drying my hair. When I talk to people while not wearing my glasses, my eyes tend to dart around a lot. I hope no one thinks I'm being disrespectful or have a weird tic or something. I just can't see people's eyes, so I prefer not to look at them at all rather than look at their blurry, undefined features on their fleshy blob of a face (I mean that in the nicest possible way!).
In conclusion, this is just another reason to hope I am a candidate for Lasik surgery. I have an appointment for a consultation next Friday.
Currently listening to: Young Shields - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Book: Show us the latest book you bought, borrowed or received.
I purchased both of these on the same day. I have no idea when I'll actually read them. My stack of unread books is quite tall right now.
How have people mispronounced your name? How is it supposed to sound?
Submitted by Lorie.
People mispronounce my first name (Kara) all the time, including colleagues I've worked with for years. It doesn't bug me when someone I've just met gets my name wrong, but when it is someone who has been corrected multiple times over many years, it becomes irritating. I feel like they don't give a shit enough to bother with me.
It's care-ah, not car-ah. People mispronounce my last name all the time as well, but it is rather intimidating so I'm always forgiving.
Audio: What song do you listen to when you are sad?
Submitted by Nat.
I don't usually listen to music when I'm sad (or if I do, I don't listen to anything in particular). But here is a nice, sad song for your listening pleasure. Don't get all weepy on me or anything.
My poor workplace has finally switched the Mac users over to OS X. Yes, that's correct—I've been using Mac OS 9 (or lower) for the seven years I've worked here. Never mind the fact that I've been using OS X at home since Fall of 2001. But today I'm in a magical happy land inhabited by pixies and pink frosted cupcakes.
While I would have preferred a Mac Pro tower, I was given an extremely capable brand new 20" iMac. I love the stunning cinema display, the speed, the features, everything. I have a decent Mac at home, but this just blows it away. The only thing I am a little ill at ease with is the built-in camera. I opened up the Photo Booth program, not knowing what it was, and suddenly there I was on the display.
So in a partial attempt to embrace this hardware and software, here is a picture of me sitting at my new iMac this morning (the pictures come out really dark and I'm too lazy to adjust anything in Photoshop; my sweater, hair, and shelving unit are all actually a medium brown). Amusingly, it took this picture to make me realize that my office is a huge mess.
I want to share with you six songs off of three of my current favorite CDs: Beirut's Gulag Orkestar, Dreamland Faces' Dreamland Faces, and Daniel Johnston's Welcome to My World.
I'm home from work, alone. In that realm between sickness and health. I slept for eleven hours, woke up and ate, and watched Pump Up the Volume while sipping Reed's Ginger Brew (always satisfying, no matter how I'm feeling).
There are movies, books, and music that transport me back, take me to a specific mood, a feeling, a memory. Yes, I am a bit of a sentimental fool. A sap for the things that touch my heart. And Pump Up the Volume gets me every time. I don't know what it is about the '80s (and very early '90s) that I identify with so much. I know it is silly to say I identify with a decade, but that's really where my media love lies. I have a friend (nine years my senior) who says I was born in the wrong decade. Don't misunderstand--I was alive in the '80s, but I didn't hit my teenage years until 1991. Of course I should consider the possibility that the reason I am so smitten with the '80s is because I wasn't a teenager during it.
I certainly don't want to go back and relive my youth (my life keeps getting better as the years go on), but sometimes I wish I could do certain things over. I wish I could be a different person around those youthful bodies that surrounded me every day. But I suppose a lot of people feel that way. Ugh. Listen to me, talking like I'm going through some kind of mid-life or identity crisis. At 28, I assure you, I am not.
But those awkward years, they fascinate me. At times I even indulge in contemporary young adult fiction to see what the issues are these days. I'm impressed by some of the topics these books take on. I had various Judy Blume titles to help me through The Big Issues and a lot of flighty horror and mystery novels to pour through. I was happy to learn that the topics have matured a bit. Of course young people still have Judy Blume and the mystery/horror novels by the likes of R. L. Stine and Christopher Pike, but there is also a whole world of books exploring all the modern issues kids face. Some things will always stay the same, certainly. But this age is different from even ten years ago. Or maybe we just aren't afraid to talk about the taboo subjects anymore.
It makes me sad and angry to know that so many of Judy Blume's novels are on the list of the most commonly challenged books in the U.S. I hold topics involving freedom of speech near and dear to my heart. Movies like Pump Up the Volume move me. Hearing about organizations, communities, or individuals fighting back against the banning of certain books in schools makes me proud. I've carefully chosen the issues and charities I support. I wish more people would put their money or their time where their mouth is.
So thanks for "listening." In a way, all blogs out there right now are a little like Mark's pirate radio station. We read each other's words and come to know and help each other, without needing to be in the same room. Means of communication may change, but we all find a way to reach out. Words are powerful. I've always believed that.
1. Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
2. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
3. Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
4. Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - All the Roadrunning
5. Lisa Germano - In the Maybe World
6. Cat Power - The Greatest
7. The Handsome Family - Last Days of Wonder
8. Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
I also received a Dreamland Faces CD from my brother for my birthday this year. I have no idea when it came out, so I don't know if it qualifies for my list, but I really dig it.
I received The Complete James Dean Collection for Christmas from my boyfriend's mother. I watched East of Eden on Saturday. Still great after all these years. I'm a huge James Dean fan—have been since I was old enough to watch Rebel Without a Cause. JD was a hell of a performer. He is one of my three favorite actors, second only to Cary Grant, ahead of Steve McQueen.
Lately I've been listening to Weird Al songs obsessively. I was into Al in middle and high school, but the music he put out in the last ten years somehow escaped my attention until recently. I think "White & Nerdy," in particular, is genius. There's something about Al that kinda gets me hot. Is it his amusing and creative parodies? His talent with the accordion? His wholesome sexiness? Or all of the above? He's the bees knees.
Fiction, to be precise. My style of reviewing doesn't rehash plot details. If you want that, go to Amazon.
A few weeks ago I finished reading A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. As one of Mr. Hornby's biggest fans (or so I imagine), the book delivered exactly what I wanted. In the typical NH style, it was charming, witty, heartwarming, and deep all at the same time. I like Nick because he can take a small slice of life and write it with such care and love. His characters are realistic people I'd want to know. His words are simple, but they remind me of all those times I'm filled with passion and, dare I say, a zest for life. His carefully written stories remind me of all the good things about the world.
After ALWD, I read Mil Millington's first novel, Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. I should have known better than to read one funny novel written by a British guy directly after another (superior) funny novel written by a British guy. As I said, this was Mil's first novel. I love Mil's web site and his sporadic email updates, but this novel is not real impressive. Part of that is due to the inevitable comparison I made between the two novelists. Nick is a seasoned writer; Mil is a fiction novice. Things My Girlfriend and I... is entertaining, but it lacked focus and a compelling story. I'm not giving up on Mil; I have hope that his next two novels are better.
I'm currently reading White Noise by Don DeLillo. I heard that this novel has been dubbed a "hipster's handbook." I'm not really a hipster, but I wanted to know what about this particular book earned it that title. I'm about a quarter of the way in, and so far I have mixed feelings. Initially I disliked DeLillo's writing style—the almost painful description of detail, the random sentence tossed in here and there that doesn't relate to either proceeding or following paragraph, the often detached and overly philosophical characters. But then I started to embrace it. DeLillo reminds me a little of A. M. Homes in his affection for the absurd and dysfunctional in the family unit and relationships in general. They both portray people who aren't really like anyone I know but who aren't so far out there that they are unrealistic. I imagine that there are people like these characters somewhere in the U.S. I don't know if I'd want to befriend them, but reading about them keeps me interested and entertained. I hope this book doesn't let me down. Many of the readers who oft recommend DeLillo also enjoy the likes of the infinitely terrible David Foster Wallace.
Unrelated, I'm ready for football season to be over. Who's with me?
Currently listening to: Clever Not Beautiful - Hawksley Workman (from cabell's wonderful You're Going to Stop Pretending That You Didn't Break My Heart mix)
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illogicalamity said:
I know, it's sad. But now the long reign of terror is over. We can start moving on with our... read more
on I am ecstatic! -
fetjuel said:
[this is good]Oh my goodness, Mac OS 9 *or lower*... Sympathy++. read more
on I am ecstatic! -
Reverend Jim said:
[this is good]The better question (maybe of the weekend) would be "What would be on you all-cover CD?" read more
on QotD: Better than the original?
True, true; I certainly agree. And if I could see better without my glasses I wouldn't mind them one bit—I'll... read more
on Ms. Magoo