Plays Well With Others

My Book Binge …

I got this note from Denise today … it was nice to hear from her:

“I love it when you mention my name in your journal! That is so cool. I can’t believe I was your first reader. I seem to discover most of my journalers after they’ve been around for a while, so it’s kind of nice to have been there from the beginning.”

I’m just happy someone has stuck with me for so long … I mean like I said in my very first entry, “by writing a journal I’m assuming that people will be interested in what I have to say, and that I’m going have things to say that are interesting.”

I just know that I dont always have something interesting to say, and often I’m just rambling in here, and I start to wonder why people come in here and read what I’m writing … it’s reassuring to have just one person that keeps coming back, and I love the fact that I’m able to talk to so many of the readers that come in here … community is very important to me. Denise is my security blanket. I’d gladly take two visitors a day that are willing to send me an email from time to time and chat with me, than to have 300 anonymous strangers coming in and out everyday.

For some reason, journalers get caught up in the numbers game and forget that how many people come isnt as important as who is coming in. I think that having 300 people come in and having no idea who even half of them are just isnt as fun as having ten people coming in and knowing all of them. That’s just me though.

Have you ever stood in an elevator and had the doors close and then nothing happened? I dont really fear elevators, I just fear either getting stuck in one, or having it plummet down 50 floors where I’ll be splattered all over the roof of the elevator … ewww, gross thought. Anyhow, there is always that two second feeling of panic, when the elevator doesnt move … my heart beats a little faster and I suddenly find my self thinking about bad things … of course, two seconds later it starts right up and I’m heading to my destination.

Isn’t it strange how in an elevator, everyone goes in and tries to stand near the control panel, and always presses the button to their floor even if it’s already lit? You can do some great psychological tests in elevators. I mean people like to stand near the wall … no one likes to stand in the middle … everyone faces forward … no one talks. I always feel a little annoyed when I’m in an elevator and people are talking really loudly to each other. There aren’t any elevator rules or anything, but I just hate being forced to listen to someone’s conversation.

Here is an elevator gag: Walk into an elevator and face everyone. People will think you are strange, and no one will look at you, because the second thing people hate besides talking to people, is making eye contact.

While I dont talk about it too often, and dont always have time to actually sit down and read a good book, and am no where near the fanatic that Katie is, I do like to have a good book around to read when I have the chance.

I have a variety of interests in book.. the last I read was about a guy with multiple personalities who later became a psychologist to help other people. The book was called First Person Plural, and was pretty good.

And I always recommend to people who are looking for books to use for a compare and contrast essay, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Both books are wonderfully written and are classics as far as I’m concerned.

To Kill A Mockingbird: “Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus–three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.”

A Separate Peace: “Gene was a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas was a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happened between them at school one summer during the early years of World War II is the subject of A Separate Peace. A great bestseller for over thirty years–one of the most starkly moving parables ever written of the dark forces that brood over the tortured world of adolescence.”

I always feel a little out of place and avoid discussing books because when I was younger I never really liked reading. I avoided reading most of the classics and instead would skim through it, enough to give me the gist of the story and enough to get a few lines written to accommodate a teachers request.

Now, though, I’m very interested in finding some good books and over the past few months have started collecting books ever other month. Now, I have a pile of books that are unread, waiting for me to fit them into my schedule. I’ve also become a bit of a snob when I buy books, opting to only buy hardcover editions. I even feel a little embarassed to admit what I haven’t read, but I can trust you all.

Today, I was breezing through amazon.com’s site, where it’s so scary as to how easy it is to buy things.. just two clicks and I’ve spent money. So, I know you’ll all be gasping when I tell you what books I bought, because I’ve never read them.. and for some reason my school never made me read them … and it’s not like I was in remedial reading or anything, I was in CP courses for gods sake..

So, I ordered The Catcher In The Rye, mainly because of all the Holden Caulfield references I’ve been seeing in the journals. I’ve also bought, Brave New World, which sounds interesting. I’m slowly working my way down the Amazon.com Classics list … now I just need to find time to actually sit down and read a book. With my job, classes and outside activities, I never seem to find the time.

This is part of a new years resolution to get up-to-date on some literature. I just hate not being as well-read as I should be … it’s sort of a sore spot for me, because when other people are discussing books, I usually just have to sit and listen … it would be nice to actually be a part of the discussion.

Movin’ and shakin’ … I’m going to be meeting up with a girl named Kara this weekend, as a possible roommate. We been emailing and trying to set up a meeting date and finally nailed one down, so Monday I’ll meet her in front of a Mervyn’s department store. She offered a description to avoid having me walk around the store asking every female, “are you Kara? are you Kara?”. Her description is as follows, “I’ve got brown hair, am Swedish, and am a beanpole”. Okay … so that should be easy to find … of course, as vague as her is, mine was worse, “I’ve got brown hair … shouldn’t be hard finding me.”

Well, contrary to popular belief, not all Californians have blond hair … in fact, I barely know any. I’m a native San Franciscan, born and raised and live, and have brown hair.. so deal with it.

We are going to look at apartments, and hopefully find something … we’ve got one in mind, but it’s a little dreary and the neighborhood is sketchy, so we’ll check it out on Monday and see if anything looks different. We’d have to sign a six-month lease and it might just have to do until we can find something a little more acceptable.

She’s kind of in an awkward situation, living with an ex-boyfriend who just rented out her room without her knowing about it, so she has to move out by Feb. 1st. I’ve got to find out her story, before there’s any paperwork signed … I dont want any surprises.

I hate feeling rushed, which is exactly what I felt today after work. I got off work at a little after 5PM, and had to rush over to the dealer to get my car. Both the dealer and the rental place close at 6PM. I flew over to the rental place to return the car, and the line was going out the door.. just insane. It took me half an hour to get through the line, and what drove me crazy is that the guy behind the counter was going so slowly … not even trying to look rushed. I mean I worked with people, and so I never get mad, but part of me was just wishing this guy would hurry the hell up. He’s chatting, and typing into the computer with one finger, and counting change, and signing things … and I just felt like screaming at him. I finally got out of the car rental place at exactly 6PM, and had to run up the street as fast as I could, to get to the dealer before they locked the door … I got in just as they were shutting down …

I dont like feeling rushed.

I love little kids.. they are adorable and they dont judge, they are just friends. I hate little kids that are brats, or are precocious. I dont like when little kids say something funny, everyone laughs and then the kids starts saying it over and over and over and over. Kids just dont understand how something is funny the first time, then becomes annoying quickly after that. I dont mind roughhousing with kids.. believe me, we have all little girls in my family and they play just as rough as boys do. I’ve beaten up, landed on, pushed, shoved … I can handle it … I’m not the most threatening person, and have a little bit of a hard time when it comes to saying that it time to rest or stop.

Growing up everyone always felt it was their job to yell at us, all the time. I hated it.. so I try to make things fun for the kids.. if someone wants to yell at them, feel free, but I wont do it.

The Book of Eleven – Brain Lint: My brother-in-law Adam was over and we were all hanging our watching the basketball game. Upset by a play, oblivious to the toddler in our midst, and in full testosterone form, Adam screamed at the TV, “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER!” Without missing a beat, three-and-a-half-year-old Justin blurted out, “Uncle Adam, we don’t say stupid!”

Childhood Experience of the Night: I was captain of the safety patrol in school. The safety patrol, for those not aware, are students in charge of getting to school early and standing on the street corners and crossing student across the street … they are also known as school crossing guards.

As captain, I was in charge of assigning students on the various corners, and also in charge of assigning them rank. It was all a bunch of bull, I mean no one was more important than anyone else … not even me. But there were all these badge to hand out … who was going to be the lieutenant, or the sargeant, or the gold badges, or the silver badges … just a big headache. Everyone fought for the two top badges, and then if they didnt get those, would fight for at least a gold badge, which was seen as better than a silver badge … whatever.

So, day to day, I’d arrive at school about an hour early and get ready for safety patrol with my crew. I’d hand out assignments, and I came up with a system of rotating badges, so everyone would have a chance to be every badge. We did quite well and even won a competition.

The day of the competition, our teacher took us out to Burger King for something to eat. It was hilarious.. she pulls up and I guess she’d never ordered anything through a pull up speaker before. Because we had to tell her to talk into the speaker … so she’s ordering really slowly.

I …

willl … .

have …

some …

fries … .

and …

three …

cokes …

The guys repeats the order and asks her if she’d like a whopper with that … who knows why. She quickly replies, “Why the hell would I want a waffle in the middle of the day??”

We all busted up laughing, trying to explain that he didnt say “waffle” but “whopper” a type of hamburger. It was just kind of funny..

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