mycalicocat

I would like to know about some good books and good writers, both serious and escape, and will start with some of my own recommendations.

Most recent: I just finished "Saving Fish from Drowning" by Amy Tan, which is mostly set in Burma aka Myanmar, and is really good. I read it pretty much straight through, because it is a page-turner in addition to having all kinds of interesting sub-plots going on and having a narrator who has just died and is telling the story as a kind of ghost. Weird, but good -- with a lot of fascinating background on Burma, and a truly bizarre plot. I recommend it. (The only other thing I ever read about Burma was Kipling's "On the Road to Mandalay," and it's changed a whole lot since then!)

Most recent escape reading : Robert Crais' "The Forgotten Man," an Elvis Cole novel. Also liked "Mr. Paradise" by Elmore Leonard. Both very good for bedtime reading.

I went back to high school today. I arrived at Houston County High School at 7:15 a.m. and "shadowed" a smart, cute junior named Denise, through British Lit, AP U.S. History, Girls Ensemble, Pre-Calculus, lunch, band -- she plays the clarinet -- and AP Physics. We walked 2000 miles (She was in high heeled boots and probably weighs 95 lbs.)
I will share the story and some photos , too, after I write it.

Barely, I'd like to do a story about being arrested next. Can you suggest an appropriate crime which wouldn't involve much jail time, but would provide authenticity for writing purposes?

This is David Moore, son of Jeremy and Melissa, grandson of Sid and Yvonne (Young at Heart).

Here's a message from the Fairfax, Va contingent:

Hey Mom,
It looks like we have about 10-12 inches on the ground right now, and it is still snowing. Our street hasn't been ploughed yet, so it looks like we will be home most of the day. I've been cooking comfort food, and we hope to get out and play in the snow today. I'll have the cameras ready.
Gretchen

Is it snowing in Kentucky, too?

I invite a discussion of total time wasting.

Have you ever played a game called "Bounce Out" on Yahoo! Games? It is not only without any redeeming social value, but also makes really silly noises. Tina and I both play this dumb game. (I know she's doing it because I can hear it going "cuckoo!" when she loses. It also goes cuckoo when I lose, but I have turned the volume down.)

I also play Spider Solitaire -- the same game over and over until I win. That's my rule. As soon as I win, I stop, even if it's just 2 a.m.

Sporcupine and I have in common an unrecognized, possibly world class, talent for Tetris, which is a meaningless game of falling-down things in different shapes and colors. The real frustation of Tetris is that the better you get the faster and harder it gets, and you never actually win. It just keeps getting worse until it seems like hard work for no pay.

The most elegant and interesting game is "Pandora's Box" which has beautiful visual puzzles of art and architecture. This one has redeeming cultural value.

My true favorite, however, is Jezz-Ball (also known as Bolo Loco) which is all over the www, free and involves dividing up groups of rapidly moving balls with horizontal and vertical lines. I was at one time so good at it that I could go to the Jezz-Ball Olympics. I don't play it at all, though, because a few years ago, I was home with a cold and I played so many games in a row that my hand went numb and I had shooting pains up my arm. I had to take prednisone. My doctor, normally sympathetic, actually laughed at me, which probably wasn't Hippocratically Correct.

For days I've been watching people rioting and setting fires around the world over some cartoons, which are not, of course, being shown on television. So I went looking for the cartoons and it took QUITE a while, but I actually found them on a link from Belief.net. If you want to see what all the commotion is about, proceed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animalmagazine/sets/72057594059300225/show/

I went to a party last night. It was a hobo party, which meant that some people came costumed as hobos, but obviously those who didn't come in costume felt free to wear jeans or whatever. We were all asked to bring chili and all the chili was mixed together into a couple of pots on top of the stove. There were good toppings for the chili. Also a salad and some desserts and different drinks. We used paper plates and cups. There were about 20 people there at the maximum point. (Some came late, some left early, some watched the Superbowl, some didn't)

I'm planning to go an entirely different kind of party Friday -- or rather a gala arts benefit to which a hundred or more (could be 200) people will have bought tickets . The theme is "The Art of Chocolate." A number of fine restaurant chefs and caterers are involved. There will be a chocolate fountain with flowing milk chocolate sauce to dip fruit, pretzels and other stuff into, chocolate baklava, chocolate rum balls -- all sorts of chocolate gourmet treats, plus a wine tasting, plus a coffee tasting. This will be on the formal side, with a band. Also an art show.

Assuming that you'd like the people at either party, which of these parties appeals to you the most?

Or design one of your own.

Boyle County, Kentucky, is having its own private epidemic.

Personally, this is a great relief, because health professionals are saying that lethargy is a major symptom of this really truly virus, and I have been deeply sluggish for a week.

The other symptoms seem to be fever (not very bad), sore throat (not bad enough to run for the doctor, and gone in a couple of days), followed by dry cough, lethargy, and general fatigue.

I think the mental collapse starts two days before. No one goes to the doctor because she can't write an article (me) or finish relatively easy homework she's used to handling in minutes (Child 1).

Anyway, it's sweeping town. The county schools are closed for the rest of the week, because attendance is down to 85% and they'd rather add a day in the spring then operate that way. City schools are open, and had 95% attendance yesterday, but things will be a lot worse tomorrow if our house is a sample. Child 1 at our house was home today and the nurse told her not to go back until Monday, and Child 2 stayed in school until the last bell but is now clearly sickestof us all.

Has this bug been seen further south?