Done, Finished, Over

I have decided to retire this blog. Don't worry, all 3 of you who ever read it, I have started a new one. I just felt like I needed a fresh start, a clean slate. So, head on over to the new blog and join me on my new adventures as a Boston intellectual trapped in a Mainer's body.

The first time I post in months, and it's this?

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

I am having new business cards made up immediately.

The Halloween Party is upon me and I am as excited as I get every year. This is game 7 of the my-team-just-won-the World Series, Christmas, first kiss, found a $1000 as you spent your last $1, best day of the year time for me. The decorations are up, the food is ready, costumes have been sewn, and the haunted house quietly awaits its first scaree.

Rock On!

I apologize for the second post in a row in which my title ends with an exclamation point, but this one just didn't look right without it.

My morning drive is generally accompanied by the soothing tones of some actor reading the words of some writer to me as I manuever my car to stay just 8 inches behind the car in front of me so no other car can cut in front of me as we sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

This morning, I switched to the radio accidentally and the first song I heard was a classic from the 80s, followed by another and another. Instead of listening the end of my mystery book, I sang at the top of my lungs and rocked out all the way to Watertown. The culminating song, as I arrived in Watertown square was "Ice, Ice, Baby," which I'm strangely proud to say I still know every word of (insert the sound of Bryan weeping here as he reads this post). Will it ever stop? Yo! I don't know. Turn off the lights and I glow. Hell yeah.

Historical Fiction!

Held the first meeting of the PS Book Group tonight and it went swimmingly. Every one of my 12 participants showed up and we had a lively discussion about the first book, Our Lives are the Rivers by Jaime Manrique. The theme of this year's Book Group is historical fiction and I was really nervous about the meeting because we usually have a guest facilitator who moves the discussion along and adds historical background to the text we're reading. Since the Latin American scholar I had originally scheduled to come cancelled 2 weeks ago, and I didn't have time to get anyone else, I had to take the lead. I crammed for 3 days, reading as many books as I could about the push for independence at the turn of the 19th century in the Spanish-ruled South American countries so that I could provide some context for the group. The book explores the connection between Simon Bolivar and his lover of 8 years, Manuela Saenz. Not much is known about her, but Manrique channels her spirit to write one of the most engaging and, well, perfect books that I have read in a long time. It was fun and made me sad that I will miss the rest of the meetings. However, when I got home I received a call from one of the libraries to which I applied for a job and I have a real interview next week. Maine!

The life of a single married girl

Here I am on a Friday night, alone, in a house on which I have given up but which is in my possession until the 3rd week in November. [That's right, the P&S is signed and we have a closing date!] Due to the upcoming Halloween festivities, I chose to stay in Framingham this weekend rather than going to visit my stuff, and hubby, in Portland. Due to playoff games, said hubby chose to stay in Portland and enjoy an evening of solid baseball games without his channel-surfing wife before joining me tomorrow in my endeavor to build this year's haunted house.

This is my 8th year hosting a Halloween party and every year I feel the same party anxiety: will people come, will they mingle, will my party be fun? And every year, people come and wow me with their creativity and Halloween spirit, and they mingle, and after a visit to the ice luge, they certainly seem to have fun. This year, with all that has been going on in my life (marriage, new job search, move to Portland, selling my house), it has been tough to get motivated about the party, yet now that it is upon me, I feel that familiar thrill as I concoct new ways to spook guests. I still worry that no one will come and that it won't be fun, but I am drinking vodka so that fear will fade away with my second drink.

I really love Halloween with a child-like fervor. I am not sure from where this comes, but just the thought of a group of people in a room, all dressed up and surrounded by severed body parts and skulls and oozing vampire heads, I love it. I had a very normal childhood - I wasn't allowed to watch scary movies and my first encounter with a Nightmare on Elm St. movie in sixth grade sent me spiraling into nightmares for days. So much so, that my parents, in an effort to stop the nighttime terrors, one night put nylons over their heads and crawled into my bedroom. I sensed that someone was in the room and when I said, "who's there?", they popped up in front of me, all squishy-faced and laughing their asses off and said, "we're Freddy Krueger". Yup, completely normal childhood. No emotional scarring at all.

This week has been a weird one, starting with a day off on Monday (happy birthday to the Schroeckionnes), to the crash of a Satans pitcher into the side of a Manhattan building, to listening to the former ambassador to Iraq speak about the complete fuck-up of a job America is performing in the Middle East, to a blizzard in NY, just weird.

I'm off to a bar, with my mom, where my brother bartends. Seriously.

It's only Tuesday

Marjane Satrapi is an author of graphic novels, the most famous of which is Persepolis. She was born in Iran and now lives in France and she is just one of those people who fascinates me. As part of my Book Group last year at work, we read Persepolis and had an excellent discussion; I also had the chance to hear Satrapi speak about her novels, particularly Embroideries, which tells of the lives of women in Iran. She is intelligent, well-spoken and fearless. Today, I read an amazing interview with Satrapi in The Independent, a British paper. She gives her views on the war in Iraq and its effect on U.S. perceptions of Iran and discusses her new book, Chicken with Plums, which tells the story of her uncle who was a musician in Iran and who took to his bed to die when his beloved instrument is shattered. Her illustrations are so simple yet they evoke a ton of emotion and you find yourself learning about the history and culture of Iran without even trying. Great interview. Amazing books. Fearless author. Wow.
______________________________________________________________

I had a tune-up on my car last Friday which has led to a front-end alignment on Tuesday (yes, that's today). If I don't find a job to which I can walk in the city in which I have moved my furniture and my husband in the near future, I might have to sleep in my car in the parking lot of my current job and dream about Portland & Bryan.
______________________________________________________________

The home inspector found the following problems which are a concern to our potential buyers:
*Some bad spots on our roof (which we had disclosed);
*A rotted section of a water pipe in the basement that has a small leak; and
*An exposed and torn electrical wire leading to a junction box on the side of the house which could lead to "serious damage to the electrical wiring inside the house"

The buyers are going to get estimates for each of these problems before deciding whether or not to officially purchase our house. Despite the advice of our realtor to sit tight and wait to see what those estimates yield (sitting tight is not exactly in my nature), we have asked a plumber and an electrician to give us our own estimates. The roof is a non-negotiable problem that they are going to have to absorb since we A) don't have the funds to fix it and B) have not actually had any problems with it despite its ratty appearance. Meanwhile, we turned over the contact info of our potential renters of the 1st floor apartment to this potential buyer and she promptly scared away the tenants who had agreed to move in on Sunday the 1st (she wanted to raise their rent and they weren't having that). Now, she has not called any of the other potential renters because she's probably not even sure she will buy the house. And we haven't called any of them because we're not sure we'll own the house for much longer.
Ah, the joys of home selling.

8:30 AM

That's what time the home inspector showed up on Saturday morning to scrutinize my house. We'll find out if we still have a deal this week. The buyer has until Thursday. Think good thoughts.

That time of year again

I forgot to mention that we "listers" have struck again and thanks to Bryan have come up with the 2006 Songs List. This year we added Nick to the mix so there were 8 of us each contributing 20 songs from which we had to pick the top 50. I felt that my list this year was a more solid offering than last and as a result I had a 3 more of my songs selected this year than last (when a mere 2 of my songs made the list). I do think that I was robbed a little, but them's the breaks.

My nominees:

Lose Yourself, Eminem
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Mercedez Benz, Janis Joplin
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, Paul Simon
It's My Life, Talk Talk
Trouble, Ray LaMontagne
What Can I Say, Brandi Carlile
Coin-Operated Boy, Dresden Dolls
Billie Jean, Michael Jackson
Hit the Road Jack, Ray Charles
Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple
Fever, Peggy Lee
I've Got Rhythm, Gene Kelly
Take on Me, A-Ha
When Doves Cry, Prince
Rainbow Connection, Kermit the Frog
Life's a Bitch, Nappy Roots
Float On, Modest Mouse
Soul Meets Body, Death Cab for Cutie
Angel From Montgomery, Bonnie Raitt

My songs that made the list:
Take on Me
Lose Yourself
Respect
Billie Jean
Float On

Listing songs is really fun and I have already started thinking about what songs I might add to next year's list when we might each add a few more and then try to rank the "best of" from the 2 lists we've already created. Next up, is the 2006 Albums list this winter.