"I have only five words for you: FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS! " - Charlton Heston, lifetime member of the NRA

I am currently digging the following:

Playoff hockey (and Seg’s blow-by-blow imaginary commentary from his bed). Unfortunately the Pens lost last night, leaving the series at 3-1, Ottawa. This does not bode well, especially considering the caliber of hockey Ottawa is playing. The Pens may manage to power out another win somehow but it’s highly unlikely they’ll manage three.

Cherry cordial Hershey Kisses. I am not eating many – trying to lose some weight and all – but damn, are they yummy!

Death Cab for Cutie, and their intricate lyrics and subtle but persistent instrumentation, especially in “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”.
When I was in college, my boyfriend’s roommate had this annoying habit of playing over and over, ad nauseum, any song (or album, if we were lucky) that caught his fancy, continuously, for days, sometimes weeks. I mean continuously. Practically 24/7. J and I eponymously labeled this disorder Droutism.
I am suffering from an acute case of Droutism for Death Cab for Cutie.

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In the past few weeks I have bought (mostly at Goodwill for insanely cheap prices):

The Archivist - Martha Cooley. Part of my ongoing “librarians-in-literature” research
The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde. I lent my original copy to my father-in-law (I think); at any rate, it’s no longer on my shelf. And now it is, again.
An anthology of Dorothy Sayers. Maureen Corrigan convinced me that I should read Gaudy Night and Jess convinced me some more.
Women in the Wild. More extreme adventure writing. You’d think I’d want to go climb a mountain or sail the ocean, but no – I just wanna read about other people doing it.
Happy Isles of Oceania - Paul Theroux.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts – Julian Rubinstein. C’mon, could YOU resist that subtitle?
Waltzing the Cat - Pam Houston. I liked the title? Plus, when one of the blurbs says, "The title story...deserves to be anthologzed into eternity," that's one heck of a ringing endorsement.
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic – Gina Kolata. Germs and microbes and bacteria, oh my!
Adventures of an Ice Princess – Liz Maverick. Ok, yes, it’s chick lit, but it’s ANTARCTIC chick lit.
My Side of the Story (Peter Pan/Captain Hook). This was bought upon Seg’s request and I have to admit is not nearly as lame as I expected. In fact, the Hook story is especially entertaining. Although Peter emerges as (even more of) a prat...
Wait, No Paint! - I have a minor thing for variations on the Three Little Pigs. In fact, that correlates nicely with the following purchase: The Sisters Grimm - The Fairy Tale Detectives. A fast, amusing little book, with a fresh take on classic fairy tales.
Secret Spy Code Book - Purchased for Primo’s Easter basket because I felt so horrible when he hopefully brought home a secret code book from his Scholastic book fair that turned out to be videogame cheat codes. I returned that book for him, and bought this instead. It’s a hit. Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same - Sloane Tanen. More funny chickens.
Coco's Letters – Sloane Tanen. More funny chickens for kids. Specifically my little nephew, who is receiving this as a “Just-because-I-love-you” present.

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Randomness:

Recently saw this bumper sticker, which I like very much:
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
Take THAT, Mr Bush!

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At work yesterday, I saw a student wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt, presumably in support and solidarity with the VT students coping with the aftermath of the Monday shootings. What really saddens and frightens me about Monday’s events is that violence and tragedy on this scale are no longer especially extraordinary.
I discussed this with a co-worker; he told me that in an interview with one of the Columbine victim’s mothers, she said about the more recent tragedy, “What’s sad is that we all know what to do.”
Indeed.
By noon Monday, the TV stations had already broken out their slick, Photoshopped “Massacre at Virginia Tech” logos, and the plethora of video links of the police that day reveal the relative equanimity with which many kids greeted the pandemonium.
One student was quoted as saying, “I felt like I was in a movie.” How horrifying is that: this child was lying on the floor in a classroom, taking cover from a madman, listening to gunfire, and s/he felt like s/he was in a movie. That’s what we as a society have come to. This is what we leave our children. “I felt like I was in a movie.” It makes me want to cry.

This old crotchety codger is off to feed her over-protected children breakfast now.