i think i'd like to travel in india.
i've never really thought that before reading this book. india is still something totally outside of my experiences and maybe i'd have to change...or find more patience or personal space tolerance or openness?...to really enjoy it or even to be able to appreciate it, but i'm fascinated. i know it's all romanticised bullshit, but then so am i a lot of the time... it's a bit over the top cuz i'm only a couple hundred pages into this book and maybe i even want to learn to speak hindi or marathi or something. the main character learns it and locals are amazed and entranced and overjoyed just to hear him say "my name is lin" in marathi...it's a bit heart-warming. maybe it's like hearing non-raptor journalists mention toronto or the raptors...or like the little smile and flutter of excitement i got when lin met a couple of canadian tourists in bombay and described the open friendly expression "he came to associate with all canadians"...
this book is just so beautifully written, and smart, and funny, and new to me...and something i figured out walking home from cherry bomb coffee shop this evening - for me, one of the best importantest things about books is having characters i can measure myself against...that's what so much of it is about...the act of measuring is even kind of unconscious, or not, and an act of admiration and striving for more or betterness or purity or truth...maybe holding onto the flaws that define me or strengthen me and reaching for what else there is to be made into me that i want to be...maybe to want to mean someting... characters can do all that and strive and try and dream and if someting didn't happen there wouldn't be a book i guess. but fiction doesn't detract from wanting and dreaming shouldn't just be frivolous or ever discarded... and we don't get the kind of tests that heroes get, where there's clarity in the results or confirmation of who we think we are, and whether or not we can be special...but the characters in books do and so we can measure against them and take what we can and fine tune and balance and add and subtract and in an equation of hopes and dreams find the variables to equal ourselves to ourselves in our own inner mirrors...?
...apparently i'm inspired. i'm so thankful for that. it's rare, but not too rare i guess. very precious at least. thank god i work in a bookstore i guess...
i think maybe i'll try to learn indian cooking next. and maybe the language that goes with it...
i got some good news today - aaron's (a guy i work with who kendra knows) sister has some other commitments and besides she's already seen bruce springsteen 3 times (!?) so he has an extra ticket to the solo acoustic show at the acc on july 14th that's sold out...so i get to go instead of her! i've never seen the boss, and i'm extra excited that it'll just be him doing a solo show.
hmmm...time to go walk sarah home from work.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
shantaram
"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."
that's the first line of the new book i'm reading. pretty good start. it's called 'shantaram' by gregory david roberts. it's about this guy who escapes from prison in australia and makes his way to bombay. he's part poet, or at least a writer, but maybe also a gangster kinda...haven't gotten that far into the book yet but the jacket said something like that. the indian mafia, and his part in it, are part of the story. i have a feeling from the first line that at some point things are not going to be going so well for Lin, the main character, but so far he's pretty interesting and happy...kinda glowing with excitement or new energy in the face of new experiences.
i picked this book up partly cuz they use that first line on the jacket, and it sounds like good writing, but also out of a desire to read about something entirely new and different to me. i'm really connecting with the main character, maybe cuz i recognize his sensitivity, and he has a perception i'd like to possess, and a grittyness too, and respect...anyway, i like him, but the setting is so far from me that it's stretching the powers of my imagination. which is odd in a way. i think it's stretching my powers farther than any fantasy novel i've read in a really long time. india has never been a place i've been very interested in, except for the food, but this book might change that. i'm fascinated by it in this book. and the characters are pretty brilliant too. of course there's a love interest. a beautiful woman with really green eyes, who's totally enigmatic, and says brilliant things, and might be dangerous or powerful or both.
it's definitely an adventure, without the indiana jones. more like an adventure of survival, and something totally new. maybe it's the totally new that has me so hooked... the really good prose sure doesn't hurt either.
...
played a solid hour and a half of 4 on 4 full court basketball on tuesday night which i can only describe as being kinda glorious. flat out running and good ball. i was knocking down shots pretty well, and it turns out that i actually have a little left hand finish ability around the basket. 5 left handed layups, out on the break, in traffic, off the dribble....(i'm right-handed and not ambidexterous so yes this is an achievement, and i've NEVER done it before tuesday night.)
...
work has been a real drag lately. i'm a little worried about coming to the end of my shelf-life at indigo actually. there's been no change or any real issues or anything this week, just not liking my job. hopefully that will pass - i seem to go in phases, and today was actually pretty good. hopefully also i will get the promotion i interviewed for a couple weeks ago. i'll hear about it by monday latest. fingers are crossed. if it doesn't happen then maybe it'll be time to look into other options...i'm cursing myself now for not getting more sorted out about a teaching career in time for september, and for missing an application deadline for a theatre sound-guy job that i just remembered wrong. oh well. something will come up. or i can start reading self-help books...
that's the first line of the new book i'm reading. pretty good start. it's called 'shantaram' by gregory david roberts. it's about this guy who escapes from prison in australia and makes his way to bombay. he's part poet, or at least a writer, but maybe also a gangster kinda...haven't gotten that far into the book yet but the jacket said something like that. the indian mafia, and his part in it, are part of the story. i have a feeling from the first line that at some point things are not going to be going so well for Lin, the main character, but so far he's pretty interesting and happy...kinda glowing with excitement or new energy in the face of new experiences.
i picked this book up partly cuz they use that first line on the jacket, and it sounds like good writing, but also out of a desire to read about something entirely new and different to me. i'm really connecting with the main character, maybe cuz i recognize his sensitivity, and he has a perception i'd like to possess, and a grittyness too, and respect...anyway, i like him, but the setting is so far from me that it's stretching the powers of my imagination. which is odd in a way. i think it's stretching my powers farther than any fantasy novel i've read in a really long time. india has never been a place i've been very interested in, except for the food, but this book might change that. i'm fascinated by it in this book. and the characters are pretty brilliant too. of course there's a love interest. a beautiful woman with really green eyes, who's totally enigmatic, and says brilliant things, and might be dangerous or powerful or both.
it's definitely an adventure, without the indiana jones. more like an adventure of survival, and something totally new. maybe it's the totally new that has me so hooked... the really good prose sure doesn't hurt either.
...
played a solid hour and a half of 4 on 4 full court basketball on tuesday night which i can only describe as being kinda glorious. flat out running and good ball. i was knocking down shots pretty well, and it turns out that i actually have a little left hand finish ability around the basket. 5 left handed layups, out on the break, in traffic, off the dribble....(i'm right-handed and not ambidexterous so yes this is an achievement, and i've NEVER done it before tuesday night.)
...
work has been a real drag lately. i'm a little worried about coming to the end of my shelf-life at indigo actually. there's been no change or any real issues or anything this week, just not liking my job. hopefully that will pass - i seem to go in phases, and today was actually pretty good. hopefully also i will get the promotion i interviewed for a couple weeks ago. i'll hear about it by monday latest. fingers are crossed. if it doesn't happen then maybe it'll be time to look into other options...i'm cursing myself now for not getting more sorted out about a teaching career in time for september, and for missing an application deadline for a theatre sound-guy job that i just remembered wrong. oh well. something will come up. or i can start reading self-help books...
Saturday, July 02, 2005
things i never thought i'd see...?
anybody else watching live8? here i was, innocently trying to conquer medieval japan on my computer...tv in the background with live8 on (hey there's no basketball)...and then motley crue took the stage. apparently i still love them. but more on that later. they start out with 'kickstart my heart'. pretty rocking. mick mars is doing all the heavy rock guitar intro stuff - mega feedback wail resolves into opening chord let it reverberate shake the guitar for new feedback wail and then the band comes out...vince neil is looking ok - a little rounder but not too much and give him a break anyway, quitting heroine will do that to ya...he does his best jesus christ pose with a big too simple to be faked grin - really really happy to be on stage on the nicest day in 10 years - he says 'how's it going canada?' and holds the mic out to hear the audience....this is just rock and roll. tommy lee totally rocks in with huge drum fills and they're off and running. yeah i apparently still love motley crue. and then it gets strange... between songs vince neil says 'so today is not just about the music...it's about 8 guys in a room at the g8...we're gonna send them a message...let's hear you send them a message...' or something along those lines.... i didn't know vince neil knew what the g8 was. so wierd...
and then they went back to being cock-rockers. they're pretty good at it. they've been doing it for over 20 years. and they didn't say anything else political anymore so no more wierdness to mess with me....just good clean (and they are too since nikki sixx actually died and was rescusitated -spelling?- in the late eighties or early nineties after a heroine overdose) rock and roll. there were some odd/funny moments too. for example, even though it was only 5 or 530pm, vince neil couldn't help but saying 'tonight' - as in 'how y'all doing tonight?' and 'let's get those hands in the air tonight' and 'make some noise tonight'...he did that about 9 times...
sarah says maybe it's cuz they've been up since 4am if they flew in or something. i think it's cuz they're rock stars. the other funny thing is that vince neil keeps holding his mic out to hear the crowd sing the next line or whatever only the crowd doesn't seem to know the words... buncha punk kids...i knew all the words. i actually feel like i have to sing along when he does that. watching it again (thanx to my tivo, and sarah just got home so i'm making her watch it...except she's just admitted that she doesn't know any crue...the shame...) ...watching it again i'm still impressed. he's lost a little bit of voice but he can still wail. it's so funny. they are more fun to watch and seem to be having more fun than most of any bands that have been formed since 1993. ya know why? no irony. they are really unselfconscious and just going for it even though they've been doing this for a couple decades. rocking out...pulling big moves...drum stick twirls...leaning on the guitar or bass players back...having total rock hair... and they're all smiling - at least when they're not making rock guitar faces or metal grimaces. it's kinda giving me goosebumps. maybe i should grow out my hair again so i can rawk... this totally made me think of you mere.
...
oh my god. dmc, as in formerly run dmc - until run got shot not that long ago, just came out on stage and they're getting some help from the actor who plays warrick on csi (las vegas)... and for their second song they're rapping over 'all along the watchtower' holy shit i think that's robbie robertson playing the guitar for them...i'm ....i don't know what to say....robbie robertson sounds kinda awesome...
and then they went back to being cock-rockers. they're pretty good at it. they've been doing it for over 20 years. and they didn't say anything else political anymore so no more wierdness to mess with me....just good clean (and they are too since nikki sixx actually died and was rescusitated -spelling?- in the late eighties or early nineties after a heroine overdose) rock and roll. there were some odd/funny moments too. for example, even though it was only 5 or 530pm, vince neil couldn't help but saying 'tonight' - as in 'how y'all doing tonight?' and 'let's get those hands in the air tonight' and 'make some noise tonight'...he did that about 9 times...
sarah says maybe it's cuz they've been up since 4am if they flew in or something. i think it's cuz they're rock stars. the other funny thing is that vince neil keeps holding his mic out to hear the crowd sing the next line or whatever only the crowd doesn't seem to know the words... buncha punk kids...i knew all the words. i actually feel like i have to sing along when he does that. watching it again (thanx to my tivo, and sarah just got home so i'm making her watch it...except she's just admitted that she doesn't know any crue...the shame...) ...watching it again i'm still impressed. he's lost a little bit of voice but he can still wail. it's so funny. they are more fun to watch and seem to be having more fun than most of any bands that have been formed since 1993. ya know why? no irony. they are really unselfconscious and just going for it even though they've been doing this for a couple decades. rocking out...pulling big moves...drum stick twirls...leaning on the guitar or bass players back...having total rock hair... and they're all smiling - at least when they're not making rock guitar faces or metal grimaces. it's kinda giving me goosebumps. maybe i should grow out my hair again so i can rawk... this totally made me think of you mere.
...
oh my god. dmc, as in formerly run dmc - until run got shot not that long ago, just came out on stage and they're getting some help from the actor who plays warrick on csi (las vegas)... and for their second song they're rapping over 'all along the watchtower' holy shit i think that's robbie robertson playing the guitar for them...i'm ....i don't know what to say....robbie robertson sounds kinda awesome...
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