Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Reunited, at last.

Back when I was a freshman in college, I let a boy buy my books for me. He had extra money through his scholarship and wasn’t going to be able to use it all, so he offered to buy my books. At the end of the year, I gave them back to him so he could sell them. Among other things, one of my biggest regrets from that relationship was giving up my calculus book.

I went back to the university bookstore a couple years later to pick up a used copy, but they didn’t carry it anymore. The math department had switched to a different book, so old editions of this one were worthless. The new one didn’t seem as good, or at least with my unfamiliarity with it, wasn’t as useful to me. Heartbroken, I carried on with my life.

Over the past year, I’ve been taking classes where I could have used a good calculus reference, just as a refresher. I had to resort to searching for websites with integral tables and the like. I really missed that book, but what could I do?

I was going around to my coworkers’ offices today in search of reference/text books that I might borrow to study or use on the PE exam. And one of my coworkers had the book!

Gumball 3000: The Movie movie

Well, not the exact one. An older edition with a different cover (I actually have no idea how/why I recognized it). And all my memories of that erstwhile book came flooding back.

I explained to him my love for that long-lost textbook. And he asked me a profound question:

Why don’t you just buy it online?

Because I didn’t think of it.

Strangeland trailer

The Sword in the Stone film Revenge of the Boarding School Dropouts dvdrip

So I did. The internets allowed me to search by images of the cover, so I didn’t have to know which edition I had, who the publisher was, or what year it was published. And, with shipping, it was $5.50.

In just 8-10 short days, my math shelf will again be complete. Life as I know it will be, um, well, pretty much the same. But I will have my beloved book!

Thomas Finney
Baraka video download Fair Game movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie

 

Reading

I’ve been loving the library these past couple months, but I’m also finding myself not finishing very many books. I need something more along the lines of Netflix. I don’t mind having only one book out at a time, but I can’t be constrained to these timetables. I was doing pretty well the first few weeks finishing books within the allotted 3 weeks. But then I started putting new/popular books on hold, which meant that when my turn came around, I only had them for 2 weeks. This wasn’t too bad at first, but then I mis-timed some of the books and had a backlog. And with only 2 weeks, I wasn’t finishing or keeping up with all the reading. Not to mention I was also trying to be a little studious.

So the last few books I’ve borrowed, I haven’t finished. And I’m debating whether they were good enough to buy or if I should just put my name back on the list to borrow again. I feel … unwhole having so many unfinished books in my brain. But if a book isn’t interesting enough to finish within that time frame, is it worth spending the time reading? Should I just move on to something that will hold my attention? Do I just read too slowly? So many questions…

 

Books!

I just added a “Now Reading” plug-in. I know everyone else has had them for months (years?), but I just decided that I wanted it too. And it’s so convenient.

I can just search for books and it finds the different versions available on Amazon. And it’ll update time-stamp and category for me when I start or finish the book.

I’m working on transferring my reading list over to that because it’s prettier too. :)Surviving Sid trailer Into the Blue film My Little Eye film The Fly dvd

Magnifique, Le ipod

download The Darjeeling Limited dvd

The Lady Vanishes

download Torch Singer movie
 

Becoming Normal

Look Me in the Eye

Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident dvd
In the Mouth of Madness hd

by John Elder Robison:

When we are young, our brains are constantly developing, making new connections and changing the way we think. As I recall my own development, I can see how I went through periods where my ability to focus inward and do complex calculations in my mind developed rapidly. When that happened, my ability to solve complex technical or mathematical problems increased, but I withdrew from other people. Later, there were periods where my ability to turn toward other people and the world increased by leaps and bounds. At those times, my intense powers of focused reasoning seemed to diminish.

I am reminded of a book I read as a teenager, Flowers for Algernon. Scientists took a retarded janitor and made him a genius, but it didn’t last. His brilliance faded away before his eyes. That’s how I feel sometimes, looking back at the creative engineering I’ve done. Those designs were the fruit of a part of my mind that is no longer with me.

I know I already mentioned this book a few days ago, but I just finished it and I was stunned by this passage. I’ve been reminded of Flowers for Algernon numerous times over the past few years. I can feel my memory failing me, my brain slowing down. I remember things incorrectly or not at all. I get appointments, dates, and times mixed up. I have to write things down and go back to reference these notes much more than I used to. I’m slower to do calculations in my head or solving problems or puzzles.

College was socially challenging for me. I didn’t make many new friends. Most of the people I hung out with, I knew from high school. Others, I only hung out with after attending 2-3 years of classes with them. I didn’t get invited to parties often, nor did I go when I was invited. I almost always had a boyfriend around, because that made me feel like I was “normal.” But in retrospect, it encouraged me to be socially lazy. I had a close group of friends, I had a boyfriend, and I was busy with classes. Why would I bother wasting time going out?

For a good percentage of college, I was happy though. I thrived. I was learning a lot and I had good reason to stay introverted. It was ok for me to be different because intelligence is a good thing in academia. It evens the playing field.

In the past couple years, I’ve been more social at work and have been going out to happy hours. I get invited to go out to do something at least weekly. At first, I felt like I had to have a good excuse not to go or be seen as rude. Or I would go even when I didn’t want to and just stand around being awkward. I’ve worked so hard at fitting in and passing as normal. I can even manage passable small talk these days.

But for all the effort, it doesn’t make me happy and I can feel myself losing my mental faculties. I think I would rather be smart. And intellectually, even I recognize that I’m not supposed to feel like that and especially not tell people that. But I’m saying it anyway.

One of the things I miss most from Old Life is the HOY. It was one of the first places where I could hang out without feeling awkward. I think we were all very similar socially and possibly all Aspergian to some extent. It was ok if I just wanted to go over and play video games with them or even if I went over to borrow the dog instead of interacting with the humans. It was ok to bring a book over and read because then, technically, I wasn’t sitting at home alone being anti-social. I was out of the house, with a group, being anti-social. That’s “normal.” And I never felt like I overstayed my welcomes because it was acceptable for someone to say, “It’s time for you to go home now,” and it wasn’t rude and no one’s feelings would get hurt. It was just a statement of fact.

I never drank when I was in college. I would just tell people I wasn’t old enough and no one would press. I usually didn’t drink when hanging with the HOY crowd either. I didn’t have a problem not drinking around people before. But after I started drinking casually with people, I find that there’s more peer pressure to drink now than when people were getting stupid drunk all the time in school. It’s part of networking; it’s how professionals interact. I don’t really enjoy it.

I think I’ve veered severely off topic now. In any case, this was an excellent book. And while the author strove to fit in with people to find happiness, I think I want to find people who get me. I’m tired of learning how to read people and how to converse with them. I know well enough how to be polite and how to blend into a crowd. That should be enough. I want to be me again.

download Murder in the First

 

Post Secret by Phone

Just thought this story was kinda cool — Knowing Someone Cares Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning movie Class of 1999 film

Paulson, unknowingly, tapped into fears that many of us share: that in a busy, crammed-full life, no one remembers us; that our answering machines never flash because we simply don’t matter to anyone; that in an era when communication with others is easier than ever before, we are communicating less and less.

Oh, and finished last week, but forgot to blog about it: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Fantastic story of her life. My sister and I just joke about wearing curtains when we were little. Jeannette colored her legs with magic markers to fill in the spots where her pants had holes (sewing a patch on would be too noticeable). She and her siblings slept in boxes. Her parents snuck candy and booze while the kids rummaged in the trash for food. It’s heartbreaking, but she’s so well-adjusted about it and childlike in how she described normal events in her life that’s it’s funny simply because it didn’t happen to me.

Romeo and Juliet film
 

Lights!

Something happened to our kitchen lights about a week ago and the switches stopped working. Ian and I went over to Home Depot and picked up a replacement and made an attempt at replacing the 3-way switch. The switch that was there before had a sliding dimmer, which was kind of annoying, and an on/off button which was unreliable at best. Not to mention the maintenance guys who work for our building could never figure out how to turn the lights off. They would just dim them all the way down.

So, we bought a new switch that just toggles back and forth and installed it as the internets instructed (it didn’t come packaged with instructions or anything) and now 2 of the 6 lights turn on and the other switch still doesn’t do anything. To be fair, 2 of the lights were out before… 1 which stopped working and the other, I think the bulb went out and we were lazy. But still, only half the lights work. It’s getting left like that for now since I don’t know anything about electricity and can’t figure out what the issue is without actually investing the wiring.

Just finished: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Very cool story-line, but much sappier than I thought was necessary. And as far as I could keep track, every side story was followed through and explained. As I was reading, I thought it was longer than it needed to be, but in the end, I didn’t feel like it dragged on and I was content with the ending. Pretty good, overall.

Next up: Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk.

Also, I thought I was just immature, but it’s not just me… one of my coworkers stopped by to giggle about an email we received today with an article about the new Chief of Naval Operations: Adm. Roughead.

Major Movie Star Swamp Devil movie download

Ill Be Home for Christmas divx

Footloose movie
Abandoned divx
 

The Curious Incident…

After the movie Saturday night, I stayed up way too late reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I hadn’t heard of it before NewGirl recommended it to me a while back and then a week later, Ian’s mom and brother were both talking about it too. So, I figured it must Swingers film

be good.

It’s a murder mystery investigating the killing of a dog, told from the perspective of an autistic boy. The author does a wonderful job explaining the logic behind why the main character did certain things or did things a certain way and why interacting with people was so confusing to him. I found myself recognizing a lot of the thought processes he goes through trying to understand what people really mean when they don’t clarify the conditions of a statement.

I don’t want to give away the story though, so I’ll leave it at that. It’s a really quick, enjoyable read. And if you read it, don’t read the flap on the book before you start. It gives away part of the story.

Favorite quote from the book: “And I said, “Thank you for supper,” because that is being polite.”

Love Lies Bleeding dvdrip

Red Eye

 

Let's Dish!

Met up with Sonny and Anna this morning to mix up some food for the next month at Let’s Dish Creepshow III Sicko

Back to Gaya hd

. It was surprisingly quick and easy to mix up all these dishes since all the shopping, cutting, and prep work was done for us. It’s definitely more expensive than just going to the grocery store and picking out all the ingredients yourself. But, I also don’t cook complete meals when I go to the grocery store. So… it seemed worth it to me.

It was fun too. We tried to find stations where we could work next to each other or where we had signed up for the same dish. And there were plenty of opportunities to take a break and have a snack. There were cookies, lemon bars, and scones. Mm!

Just finished: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
Another good pick. Recommended by SPJ. A little too realistic at times in the descriptions of mental illness, but reflects the author’s personal experiences. I’m curious how much of the book was purely fiction.

Next up: Animal Farm.Stomp the YardCerberus psp download No Mans Land: The Rise of Reeker movie

download Whisper movie

War of the Worlds movie Tenderness divx

 

The Sirens of Titan

Wow, turns out I like Vonnegut. :)

I’ve finally started reading again. It’s very exciting! I just looked at my bookshelf and noticed about 5 books that I’ve been meaning to get to. But I was also going through Ian’s books because that’s like having a whole new library to dig through. And they must be good because Ian already read them, right? Right..?

I read Slaughterhouse Five a few years ago when I started my reading kick and wanted to catch up on all the books that I thought I should have read before I graduated. I really liked it and was kind of glad I didn’t read it in school. Those books always seemed to lose their magic after a few weeks of analyzing them.

Ian recommended Cat’s Cradle to me last year when I was heading out with him to watch his 6-hour ultimate frisbee tournament. That was strange, but definitely in a good way. I enjoyed that immensely, but I’m a little disappointed with how little of it I remember now.

Last night, I finished The Sirens of Titan. Fantastic! I’ve been reading it before going to sleep every night for the past week or so and had started heading for bed earlier and earlier so I could get more reading in. Kind of reminded me of The Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Next book: The Five Minute Iliad

Fire & Ice dvdrip

, which I borrowed from Sonny ages ago. Maybe I’ll return it this weekend. Shouldn’t take long to read, right?Stomp the Yard trailer

The Ramen Girl hd No Mans Land: The Rise of Reeker movie The Wizard of Oz film download Bruno dvdThings We Lost in the Fire trailer

Sicko download

 

"Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers – and How You Can Too"

Item: Sisters Think Parents Did O.K. – New York Times

U-571 divx

In “Top of the Class” the Kim sisters advise parents who want successful children to raise them just as the Kims did – in strict households in which parents spend hours every day educating their children, where access to pop culture is limited, and where children are taught that their failures reflect poorly on the family.

download Sin City dvd Lost Stallions: The Journey Home hd Light in the Piazza divx
 

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Oh. My. Goodness.

I just came across this list and I’m just sputtering. I don’t know what to say. Are these people serious?

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries:

HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
1. The Communist Manifesto
2. Mein Kampf
Orgazmo psp 3. Quotations from Chairman Mao
4. The Kinsey Report
AVP: Alien vs. Predator dvdrip 5. Democracy and Education

I guess if I were a conservative scholar, I would be apprehensive about people reading about different ideas too.

L.A. Story film

download Invasion U.S.A. movie

Becket dvdrip And don’t miss the honorable mentions, including:
Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B.F. Skinner
Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
Pufnstuf dvdrip Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

Mosquito the Rapist aka Bloodlust dvd

Wow. Anyway, go hug a librarian FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue movie . Yay for Banned Books Week! (Sept 24-Oct1)

 

Do people really need this much help?

Do people need a book to tell them a guy isn’t interested? He doesn’t call you/ask you out on a date… He treats you like crap. He’s not interested: Zero Calls, And One Cruel Answer (washingtonpost.com)

 

“The human head weighs 8 pounds”

Went over to my parents’ house tonight for quantity family time. Somehow over the course of the evening I remembered a trivial pursuit question asking what percentage of a baby’s weight its head makes up. At the time, someone thought of the line from Jerry Maguire where the little kid says that the human head weighs 8 pounds. And since heads don’t grow terribly much from when they were babies, it’d be a pretty high percentage. That seemed really disproportional to me. Considering, a baby weighs 8 pounds when it is born. In any case, that caused my mother to ask how they weigh human heads. “They decapitate people first.” Ok, so that would be a really messy way to go about things. After some discussion, I finally convinced her that all she had to do was lie with her head on a scale and as long as she wasn’t holding her head up or pushing down with her neck, it should give you a reasonably good estimate as to the weight of your head.

By the end of the night, we had my parents weighing in at 10 pounds each and my sister and I both at 12 pounds each. So, here’s the game. Go find a scale, put your head on it, and report back. I’m interested in finding out the average head weight for my readership. Or anyone, for that matter. If you want to convince your friends to weigh their heads too, go for it. Have fun. Report back. Need more data points. :) -J.

QOTD: “Don’t have sex with mean people. If someone is mean, don’t have sex with them.”

LOTD: Thoughts…

Current books: Dr. Zhivago, The Count of Monte Cristo

Last book: Digital Fortress — It was a quick, fun read. Thanks to my cousins and aunt for allowing me to swipe the book for this week before they were done reading it. I think I’m done with this author though. I’ve read two of his books and both books have been filled with characters he touts as geniuses — the cream of the crop in their field — yet their actions are anything but. I understand that he is merely using their lack of intelligence as a literary device to draw his puzzles out and ensure the reader understands the solution (or make them feel smart for having figured it out before these über-intelligent characters). But in order to not portray his characters as slow and inept, he either needs to think up harder puzzles or give the reader a little credit by not spending upwards of 40 pages trying to solve one puzzle. I ended up skipping 4 chapters at the end of the book because I got so frustrated with the characters. In retrospect, I wish I had skipped some of the introductory chapters as well because they were so repetitive. Ok, I get it: Cryptography = hard; Characters = smart; Unbreakable code = impossible. Impossible? Impossible. Impossible. Oh wait, sorry. I’ve just given away the first half of the book. Anyway, his stories are interesting, I just can’t stand his characters. -J.

 

Weekend

I’ve slept about 34 hours so far this weekend. And that’s not counting my day off on Friday. Starting midnight Friday night/Saturday morning until now. I’ve taken something like 5 naps. What a nice weekend. ;) So, for most of my waking hours today, I started reading Dr. Zhivago. BFF, I don’t know what you were talking about because I don’t find it boring at all. Though, if I remember correctly, you didn’t like A Tale of Two Cities either, which, at least stylistically, this reminds me of. Simply from the sheer number of characters. There are so many different things going on and the characters are all involved with different things, but somehow relate back to a previously named character. I’ve had to start a list, like we were supposed to in school for To2C. Anyway, that’s about it. Going to read until I feel like going to sleep again. :) -J.

 

Like Water for Chocolate

I kind of ruined this one for myself by watching the movie first, but oh well. The movie and book were pretty much the same. It’s a series of recipes written over the course of a year. Each month has a recipe with a story that goes along with it, starting from the premature birth of a girl due to a reaction when onions are cut. It’s a kooky story. She grows up with this intense connection with food, such that her emotions when she’s cooking gets absorbed into her dishes. So, if she’s sad, her food will make people sad, etc. Anyway, the premise of the book is the girl growing up in a family whose tradition is to have the youngest daughter in a family not marry and take care of her mother until she dies. The girl falls in love with this guy who ends up marrying her sister just so he can be near her. Hilarity ensues. It’s a pretty short book. I ended up reading it in an evening and I’m a pretty slow reader. I’m not sure who I would recommend this to… It’s a quirky kind of romantic-comedy story. So if you enjoy things like that, you might like this book. But you don’t have to take my word for it… Ba-dum-dum! :) -J.

LOTD: Bloggers Suffer Burnout