Sunday, January 29, 2006

"Meddle not in the affairs of dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

Tomorrow is the public school lottery.
Much as I despise word problems, allow me to pose this one for you.

Each kindergarten class is allowed 17 pupils.
That's a total of 34 kindergartners in the desired school.

Let's say 12 of the spots are automatically reserved for siblings
(This number varies, obviously, from year to year).
That leaves 22 spots open.

Half of those spots are automatically reserved for African-American pupils (I've never checked the "Other" checkbox before, it was a strange feeling).

That leaves 11 spots.

For the remaining 29 applicants.

Of which we are one.

H. has known this since the beginning of December but only informed me of the exact numbers Friday evening. Smart man.

I will not be sleeping tonight, just like Christmas when I was little, only in this case, I am not sure that what I will be receiving at the end of all this stomach-churning is going to be a good thing.

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Literary snippets:

I finished Caleb Carr's The Alienist. I was underwhelmed. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I thought it was going to be amazing, I thought it was going to be overwhelmingly good. It was not. I was not even whelmed. I was underwhelmed.

I gave up on On the Ice after one too many "Ruth and I exchanged our shirts, warm flannel scented with her, on my bare skin" sorts of moments, interpolated with facts about Scott's fatal expedition to the Pole and interesting history about the McMurdo research station. I was interested in the latter bits but the former were so weirdly out of place among the latter that it pissed me off. If she'd even just been making a point about the oddity of relationships developed by people wintering over at the Pole, fine, but she wasn't. She was exploring and mending a broken heart, so sad, I know, I'm heartless, but that's not what I signed up for.

I am so moving to Chicago. The Bookslut book/author series is consistently interesting.

Gina, here’s your virtual birthday gift. I do believe it’s waterproof so it might come in very handy in the bathtub. (It’s for a *book*, you sickos!)

My librarian hero, protecting her constituents. I hope I would have those kind of cajones.

I am not generally a huge poetry fan. I do like Louis MacNeice, and I enjoy Pablo Neruda well enough, and Dorothy Parker (does she count as poetry even?). But upon Mary Doria Russell’s website urging, I signed up for an emailing of Gary Wilkens’ poetry. And the guy is GOOD. I look forward to getting his poems. I like reading them. Some of them make me stop and go, “Huh.” Or “Wow.” Or something equally heartfelt if inane. He’s just finished a cycle called “Molly and Dupree” and I think it’s great.

Since Gina got me reading comic books a little, what with Y: The Last Man and all, I find that every once in a while I enjoy them. I need to read Persepolis, and I would like to check out Alias. Mostly because I dig that Jessa likes the heroine pre-"shiny, manageable hair."

I like early Gail Godwin well enough. I remember enjoying very much Father Melancholy’s Daughter and A Mother and Two Daughters; but she got a tad melodramatic in later years - started sounding like Anne Rivers Siddons – ouch! - so I stopped reading her. Her new one, The Queen of the Underworld looks pretty good, enough that I will get it from the library at least. And isn’t that a great title? Actually, isn’t it in a Springsteen song?

Does anyone else think of Optimus Prime whenever they see the heading on Amazon about a particular title not being eligible for Amazon Prime? (And, no, I have no freaking clue what the Pepsi convoy has to do with OP. Curiouser and curiouser.) Of course now I am thinking "Octopus Prime"...because I am reading Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, which you must all immediately go read. You know how when you read in public and start laughing, you feel a little silly and self-conscious? I spent my whole lunch break feeling that way, and then feeling mildly horrible (is that possible?) for laughing so hard at a character who suffers from Tourette’s. (But he’s such a bright and complex character. And he's so damn funny.)

The fact that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is done writing is a shame. Love in the Time of Cholera is a book everyone should read.

So if we simply ignore and pretend certain derogatory terms don’t even exist, we are teaching our children….what? Tolerance, enlightenment, equality…wouldn’t want to do that now, would we?

Hilary Spurling just won the Whitbread Award for her biography of Matisse. I wonder how much of it she made up? I sure hope those Whitbread folks aren’t going to be embarrassed by her now.

Give Dooce a rest, people! I wonder if she’ll actually win a Bloggie. I personally nominated Badger and Blackbird, dammit. But the only one I need to vote for in the finalists is Finslippy, whom I find amusing. I have a few issues with her son, but nothing for which his cuteness doesn’t make up.

Did you know there are two Graham Greenes? See the kinds of things I learn at work?

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Joke’s “To know me is to love me” meme


Movies You Need To See To Understand Me Better
Moonstruck
Love Actually
Emma
Clueless
Charade
Roman Holiday
Sixteen Candles
Pretty in Pink
Breakfast Club
Some Kind of Wonderful
10 Things I Hate About You
The Godfather
Kenneth Brannagh’s Henry V
To Kill a Mockingbird

Albums You Need To Listen To Understand Me Better
An Innocent Man – Billy Joel
The River – Bruce Springsteen
Bless the Beasts and Children/Nadia's Theme
A Quiet Normal Life - Warren Zevon
Saint Dominic's Preview - Van Morrison
Kid A - Radiohead
OK Computer - Radiohead
everything Dar Williams, but especially Mortal City
everything Chris Smither
Singles 45's and Under - Squeeze
Philadelphia Chickens
La Boheme - the version with Victoria de los Angeles, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
just about anything Sibelius
Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash - The Pogues
If I Should Fall From Grace With God - The Pogues

TV Shows You Need to (Have) Watch(ed) To Understand Me Better
Quincy
M*A*S*H*
Love Boat/Fantasy Island duo on Saturday nights
Facts of Life
Melrose Place
Ally McBeal
Freaks and Geeks
Sports Night
Family Guy
Curb Your Enthusiasm
ER

Books You Need To Read To Understand Me Better
Roller Skates - Rith Sawyer
all of LM Montgomery
most of Madeleine L'Engle
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
all of Laurie Colwin
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
In Watermelon Sugar - Richard Brautigan
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Jane Austen - any and all
Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
all of the Trixie Belden mysteries
Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi
The Salterton Trilogy - Robertson Davies (really, all of Davies)
Miss Buncle - DE Stevenson

Games You Need To Play To Understand Me Better
Spoons
Hearts
Basketball
Celebrities
Fictionary
Parcheesi
Risk

Musicals/Plays You Need To See To Understand Me Better
Arcadia - Tom Stoppard
Red Noses - Peter Barnes
Pippin
Guys and Dolls (a poirson can develop a cold...)
La Boheme
Uncle Vanya - Chekhov
No Exit - Sartre
110 Degrees in the Shade
Jesus Christ Superstar (also the movie)
Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? - Edward Albee
Seventy Scenes of Halloween - Jeffrey Jones
The Bakkhai - Euripides

Periodicals You Need To Read To Understand Me Better
House and Garden
Brain, Child
Newsweek
Runner's World
Fine Cooking
my alumni magazine
the sadly-now-defunct Book

Catalogs You Need To Get--not necessarily order from--To Understand Me Better
LL Bean
Title 9
Pottery Barn
King Arthur Flour

Places You Need To Visit To Understand Me Better
South Jersey
the shore
Philadelphia
Twinsburgh, Ohio
York, England
London, England
New Orleans
Florence, Italy

Comestibles & Libations Of Which You Must Partake To Understand Me Better
Bacardi and Coke, no lime
Starbucks peppermint mocha
omelettes
sushi - especially yellowtail and red snapper
blue cheeseburgers, preferably with bacon - the ones at Tessaro's and the Sharp Edge are the best
buffalo bites from the Sharp Edge with blue cheese dipping sauce and celery
the Cobb salad at Gullifteys; ditto their chocolate coconut pie
any kind of pie
Giant Eagle's Gorgonzola dip
fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes
salt and vinegar potato chips
dark chocolate
Breadworks' green olive foccaccia
steamed crabs at Grabbe's
bacon
McDonald's French fries
Zitner's Butter Krak eggs
Philadelphia soft pretzels and a Coca-Cola Slurpee

16 comments:

Kathy said...

Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash is a great album! I didn't know anything about the Pogues until my brother lent me this cd and I loved -- I thought is was going to be heavy metal at first. :)

Let us know when you know about Primo.

Joke said...

1- NOS's application to St. T was one of 650 for 90 spots. Fortunately, none are reserved for anyone, although certain people get in on tiebreakers.

2- It's cojones, not cajones. Cajones (from caja) means big boxes or crates. Not that you wouldn't want these.

3- After all, it was BRANDEIS we're talking about. (This is sarcasm, Internet.)

4- Gabriel Garcia Marquez is amazing and even better in the original. Really.

-J.

Suse said...

The blue cheeseburger stopped me in my tracks for a minute. But oh! yes! to Arcadia, Pogues, La Boheme, Love in the Time of Cholera and Roman Holiday.

BabelBabe said...

andrea - that was badger's addition. nice call on her part, i thought so too.

joke - obviously my high school spanish is the pits. but it's now improved incrementally. muchas gracias.

Sarah Louise said...

and I know you mean ruth sawyer (sorry--esp. after Joke got you on the Spanish!)

wow, a post so long I had to skim at the end! And I don't work a desk until Wednesday! Anticipation is good for me, I'm sure.

buffalo bites--that's boneless wings? Nope. I gotta have the bone.

You know why I want Primo to win the lottery--so you'll be close to my house every day!! (So selfish, that SL)

and Gabriel (yes, we're on first name basis)--c'mon! That's like Cher giving how many "despedida" tours (it's weird when you can't remember the English word--goodbye!) I'll have to ask my bro how the last book was, and yes, Joke, he read it in the original. His Spanish overall may be better than mine, but my accent is flawlesss.

Okay, so now I've placed in the "longest comment for this post" category...I must off to Joke's blog. Ciao!

amvqk: a mighty vowel quietly krawls...

(and a vw I didn't have to refresh a million times for--none of these twenty letter ones...)

Gina said...

Thanks for the virtual Thumb Thing! I wonder what it would be like? I wonder if it would really function as well as my contorted fingers?

BabelBabe said...

hey people - i am typing onehanded while nursing an infant. cut me a break here!

i forgot the westing game. changed my life, that book. also louisa may alcott...esp. 8 cousins.

blackbird said...

thank you for nominating me for a bloggie --
it was really the nicest thing of you to do...

Major Bedhead said...

I thought I was the only person in the world who had read Understood Betsy.

Peg said...

The Pogues. THE POGUES! "If I Should Fall..." is one of my very favorite albums too. I played that the other weekend after a long time and couldn't do anything but turn it up louder and louder at each song. How about we never ever have to listen to, much less sing, Toora Loora Loora ever again ever, and we replace it with Bottle of Smoke? Now *that's* an Irish Lullaby.

P.S. Monkey see, monkey do. I really liked the poem of the week at Gary Wilkens' site, so I signed up for the weekly email.

BabelBabe said...

peg - one of my deep dark secrets is that i am a credible irish dancer - set, not step, although i can stumble my way thru a simple jig or hornpipe if i were, say, forced to at gunpoint - and the pogues seems more like real irish music to me too.

and fairytale of new york is one of my favorite christmas songs ever.

Caro said...

I am thinking good luck thoughts for you. I hope you win the school lottery.

David said...

SO? It's tomorrow. Inquiring minds and all that crap...

BabelBabe said...

we won't know till probably the end of the week, they send out letters.

lazy cow said...

Broooooooce.

Sarah Louise said...

Understood Betsy--I knew I'd forgotten one on my list! The girls who showed up for Mother Daughter last Saturday *hated* it. And girls in fourth grade do not know tact. So they told me, in no uncertain terms, that they hated it. It was too old fashioned, the chapters were long...who cares about churning butter? Neither one of them (there were two) (the other 11 girls were at cheerleading practice)caught the humor in "If you don't like conversation in books, skip this chapter" which still has me in STITCHES! But, I know that one of the girls who didn't show liked it, and all the moms liked it, and one of the girls it is her favorite book. Of course, I had to sit there with the two girls who hated it...so humbling. Oh, and my sister is Elizabeth Ann but we call her Beppe. So of course I love the book!