Wonderful girls dinner last night in the big city. We ate Ethiopian and drank too much banana beer out of coconut shells. Aside from being yummy and fun, we appeared to be sitting at the amazing expanding table.
Our table started off as a cozy four top with three girls talking too long to order (hence one of us falling prey to the palm beer - 7%, very dangerous). As we were finishing eating and eating and eating a couple we knew came in and joined us. The cozy four top in the corner then seating five and they ordered food. Our plate went away; their plate arrived. Still later another friend came in. The cozy four top miraculously seated six. Plate number two went away; plate three arrived. It was good fun, truly gezellig.
Tee hee - the Mongozo website explains that their beers are available in, among other places, zoos. Yum.
30 January 2007
22 January 2007
Books Read: December 2006
This is quite late, but here's what I managed for the last month of last year:
Desai's The Inheritance of Loss was last year's Man Booker Prize winner. Desai also happens to be Anita Desai's daughter. Since I like the mother's Fasting, Feasting and the Booker folks usually chose well, DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little being an exception, I was looking forward to reading this one. Inheritance is a nice story, but not the rich reading experience I hoped for. The story has a lot of potential, but it isn't really exploited on either a narrative or textual level. The plot doesn't go anywhere far, which is fine, but the writing doesn't produce anything memorable either. This is a huge contrast with authors I love, like Rushdie, who can write phrases that are just hard to forget. I'm reading Shalimar the Clown now and it has a description of someone being murdered "like a halal chicken." There's a phrase you don't forget! Ineritance isn't a book that I'll necessarily recommend or remember. For most books, that's no problem. For one that I had high hopes for, it was a disappointment.
On a side note, my entire opposition to Vernon God Little has to do with the fact that at he uses the word "tanga" at one point. His character is supposed to be American, in fact it was part of the big deal about the book, it's American main character. But Americans don't use the word "tanga." They don't even know what it is. I would say "we" but I know. Anyway, it was a word that ruined a the whole bood for me.
The Bonesetter's Daughter was a nice read, especially for the flight home. Good old Amy Tan to remind you of come of the challenges of Chinese culture meets American upbringing. Unfortunately, after I finished it I picked up my mom's copy of The Hundred Secret Senses and realized that the two are as similar as any two early John Grisham novels. Couldn't read another Tan book but still enjoyed the first.
I've done more reading since, but have had difficulty picking books lately. Nothing is quite right. Unfortunately, that means I've started and put down two or three books as well as bought a couple. Finally settled on Rushdie for now. It's starting well with good writing and odd characters. So far, Shalimar is a driver.
- P.G. Wodehouse, The World of Jeeves
- Jonathan Manthorpe, Forbidden Nation
- John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany
- Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
- Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter
Desai's The Inheritance of Loss was last year's Man Booker Prize winner. Desai also happens to be Anita Desai's daughter. Since I like the mother's Fasting, Feasting and the Booker folks usually chose well, DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little being an exception, I was looking forward to reading this one. Inheritance is a nice story, but not the rich reading experience I hoped for. The story has a lot of potential, but it isn't really exploited on either a narrative or textual level. The plot doesn't go anywhere far, which is fine, but the writing doesn't produce anything memorable either. This is a huge contrast with authors I love, like Rushdie, who can write phrases that are just hard to forget. I'm reading Shalimar the Clown now and it has a description of someone being murdered "like a halal chicken." There's a phrase you don't forget! Ineritance isn't a book that I'll necessarily recommend or remember. For most books, that's no problem. For one that I had high hopes for, it was a disappointment.
On a side note, my entire opposition to Vernon God Little has to do with the fact that at he uses the word "tanga" at one point. His character is supposed to be American, in fact it was part of the big deal about the book, it's American main character. But Americans don't use the word "tanga." They don't even know what it is. I would say "we" but I know. Anyway, it was a word that ruined a the whole bood for me.
The Bonesetter's Daughter was a nice read, especially for the flight home. Good old Amy Tan to remind you of come of the challenges of Chinese culture meets American upbringing. Unfortunately, after I finished it I picked up my mom's copy of The Hundred Secret Senses and realized that the two are as similar as any two early John Grisham novels. Couldn't read another Tan book but still enjoyed the first.
I've done more reading since, but have had difficulty picking books lately. Nothing is quite right. Unfortunately, that means I've started and put down two or three books as well as bought a couple. Finally settled on Rushdie for now. It's starting well with good writing and odd characters. So far, Shalimar is a driver.
Practical Philosophy
Important evidence to suggest that none of it really matters now available at Harold's Planet.
Makes that long list of things to do and even longer list of things to worry about seem slightly less urgent. Thank goodness.
(The link is for the "daily" cartoon, so if it's not January 22, you won't get to see the nice little man standing on his planet wondering, "What is it all about?" and then getting eaten by a gigantic monster)
Makes that long list of things to do and even longer list of things to worry about seem slightly less urgent. Thank goodness.
(The link is for the "daily" cartoon, so if it's not January 22, you won't get to see the nice little man standing on his planet wondering, "What is it all about?" and then getting eaten by a gigantic monster)
16 January 2007
Thirty-Six Place Mats
This evening we went to the IKEA to look at bookshelves and eat meatballs. They're having their sale, "Plundra." Fun to say. The ladies in front of us had a huge stack of place mats. I asked them how many and she told me she had thirty-six place mats, but they weren't all for her. Because splitting thirty-six place mats between two people make so much more sense than one person buying thirty-six place mats.
I expected all kinds of answers. She was bubbly bordering on nutsy, the kind of woman who is either your unpredictable and fun fifth-grade teacher or the neighbor who always drinks a little too much and embarrasses everyone else at the block party. Her share of the thirty-six place mats was twenty-four. She explained that the kids just go through them so fast, there's no sense having anything nice. They were on sale, a dozen for 1 euro. Can't beat that. Can't help wondering how many kids she has and whether you should consider a hard hat if you get invited for dinner.
This becomes one of the moments when I am happy I can speak Dutch. Life loses its luster if you don't have plenty of unexpected encounters with strangers to keep you wondering where they get their wacky ideas. Unfortunately, if you don't speak the language you don't hear their ideas! There isn't a single language class in the country that would have told me about this particular need for place mats, after all.
I expected all kinds of answers. She was bubbly bordering on nutsy, the kind of woman who is either your unpredictable and fun fifth-grade teacher or the neighbor who always drinks a little too much and embarrasses everyone else at the block party. Her share of the thirty-six place mats was twenty-four. She explained that the kids just go through them so fast, there's no sense having anything nice. They were on sale, a dozen for 1 euro. Can't beat that. Can't help wondering how many kids she has and whether you should consider a hard hat if you get invited for dinner.
This becomes one of the moments when I am happy I can speak Dutch. Life loses its luster if you don't have plenty of unexpected encounters with strangers to keep you wondering where they get their wacky ideas. Unfortunately, if you don't speak the language you don't hear their ideas! There isn't a single language class in the country that would have told me about this particular need for place mats, after all.
09 January 2007
Back to Work
Still working on correcting papers from last semester. Luckily, my students are keeping me amused with their usual creativity in writing. Check out this gem:
Changes will require management to react to changes and might require the company to change the structure.Want to help formulate my answer to the student's question, "But what's wrong with this sentence?"
08 January 2007
Cream Cheese is Dangerous
I've been off-line for a while enjoying vacation in a house where the computer leaves and goes to work everyday. It was a bit frustrating at first, but actually being un-wired for ten days is probably good for your soul. Yesterday we flew home from the land of sun and arrived in the land of clouds, only there were no clouds. A nice welcome home.
Flying in, to, or from the United States means fun for the whole family lately. Between the plastic baggies for your 90ml or less of liquids or gels, taking off your shoes and hoping you're not wearing socks with holes, and the battle for storage space in a land where everyone seems determined to check no bags and carry the biggest carry-on possible, it's a hoot.
For our part, we try to make it as pleasant as possible. On our way to the airport we participated in the airport bagel ritual. The ritual is a stop at Breugger's for a dozen bagels, a tub of cream cheese, and coffee. After eating a couple in the shop including the incredibly messy and yummy cinnamon sugar bagel, we put a few bagels plus the remainder of the cream cheese in a backpack and headed to the airport. At the security check point, they stopped us to inspect said backpack. Turns out cream cheese is suspicious stuff. They tested it for nitrates (negative) and then threw the tub away. They confiscated our cream cheese.
This left us with the bagel-no-cream-cheese-dilemma. When we arrived at O'Hare, the situation became dire with a three hour lay-over and no alternative snacks. So, we did the only thing we could do. We found a shop that was selling bagels and explained to the girl at the counter that they had confiscated our bagels. She kindly gave us three little cream cheese containers, officially saving the day. The cream cheese we brought in was a forbidden substance. The cream cheese in individual serving size containers is free.
In the same bag as the bagel we had two plastic knives. They let us keep the knives.
Flying in, to, or from the United States means fun for the whole family lately. Between the plastic baggies for your 90ml or less of liquids or gels, taking off your shoes and hoping you're not wearing socks with holes, and the battle for storage space in a land where everyone seems determined to check no bags and carry the biggest carry-on possible, it's a hoot.
For our part, we try to make it as pleasant as possible. On our way to the airport we participated in the airport bagel ritual. The ritual is a stop at Breugger's for a dozen bagels, a tub of cream cheese, and coffee. After eating a couple in the shop including the incredibly messy and yummy cinnamon sugar bagel, we put a few bagels plus the remainder of the cream cheese in a backpack and headed to the airport. At the security check point, they stopped us to inspect said backpack. Turns out cream cheese is suspicious stuff. They tested it for nitrates (negative) and then threw the tub away. They confiscated our cream cheese.
This left us with the bagel-no-cream-cheese-dilemma. When we arrived at O'Hare, the situation became dire with a three hour lay-over and no alternative snacks. So, we did the only thing we could do. We found a shop that was selling bagels and explained to the girl at the counter that they had confiscated our bagels. She kindly gave us three little cream cheese containers, officially saving the day. The cream cheese we brought in was a forbidden substance. The cream cheese in individual serving size containers is free.
In the same bag as the bagel we had two plastic knives. They let us keep the knives.
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