small things

Today I am grateful for

• my first dusting of snow this season
• a warm bed (and a warm Boy) in cold weather
• opera with good, good friends.

I’m taking a page out of the Real Simple issue this month, mostly because I really like the symbolism behind this idea. Basically, they suggest writing down (or just thinking up) a few things that you are grateful for every day. To keep things in perspective. I think that, even if it sounds all hokey and touchy-feeley (feely?), it’ll keep my mind where it needs to be during this Year of Great Uncertainty. Besides, isn’t it always a good thing to reflect on your life and appreciate everything in it that’s good?

So the lighter side first. LotR and I went to the opera tonight! We saw the show Lulu, which is rather contemporary; the completed three-act opera was first performed in 1979, although a two-act version was performed before then (first in Zurich in 1937, according to Wikipedia – I can’t find my program). This was the raciest, most overtly suggestive opera I have ever seen (although admittedly, I’ve only seen three or so operas in my life). Lots of sex and adultery (which means more sex) and death and still more sex. It was awkward and funny and relatively fast-paced. Very entertaining all in all, although I don’t really see how anyone would understand the final scene without the synopsis in the program (Jack the Ripper makes [what I think is] a random appearance). I’m glad that LotR (I’ll figure out a better pseudonym for her at some point) asked me to go; we had a lovely evening together.

Tomorrow, the Boy and I will most likely spend the whole day cooking. I’m planning to make a large batch of scones, and, if I become ambitious, I’ll take pictures and post the process and recipe up here. LotR is also coming over for dinner again (I say again because she and I and the Boy have been doing a weekly Thursday dinner thing) because we have a whole chicken that needs to be eaten sitting in our fridge. It’ll give the Boy a chance to bone up on his poultry skills again. I’ll probably make some stuffing and roasted broccoli to go with.

As for the more serious matters alluded to earlier… The Boy and I are probably going to be moving out of Chicago in December. The “probably” contributed by me because the Boy is most definitely moving out. He got some word from the Peace Corps, and it looks like he will be leaving much sooner than expected. Initially, we had all though that he would be departing in June, but he has an opportunity to start his program in February, so he’s taking that chance. Which is really great, actually, timing-wise, for him. Because then when he comes back (after two years and three months), it’ll be towards the beginning of an application cycle for whatever grad schools he might be interested in.

I’m trying not to think about it too much (two years and three months) because it’ll probably make me needlessly sad. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s amazing and fabulous that the Boy is doing this. And I’m incredibly envious because I would love to do something like this too (and I’d like to think that I have the same kind of mettle). But… I am admittedly apprehensive (two years and three months), though I’m not thinking about it (coughtwo years and three monthscough).

Who knows how it’ll play out, right? And that’s all I have to say on that for now.

In other news, this totally wrecks my original traveling-through-Asia plans. I’d like to think that I am one of those amazing people who can be dropped off in a country and travel by themselves randomly and without a plan for months and months, but realistically, I’m not. And the idea of wandering around by myself for three or four months in a foreign country sounds terrifying (but exciting), lonely (but interesting), and dangerous (…that one sounds about right). So I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Any suggestions? (About anything? I’m not picky.)

lag

4. The Boleyn Inheritance, Phillipa Gregory
I read The Other Boleyn Girl a while back; I think I borrowed it from Mads sometime during my first year of college. It was a good read – I enjoyed the historical context, the intrigue and scandal. I remember thinking that it had too many creepy heavily-hinting-at-sex scenes, although they didn’t seem gratuitous (most of the time). I expected The Boleyn Inheritance to be much along the same lines.

For the most part, Inheritance reads in the same way as Girl. It is set in the same court, it has a few of the same central characters, the style and layout of the story are roughly the same. However, I found the book to be much more one-dimensional. I wasn’t particularly impressed by any of the characters this time around and found it difficult to sympathize with them at all. This book seemed to focus on one central event, so maybe I was missing a sense of complexity.

It was entertaining still. And to its credit, there were fewer of those creepy bits.

5. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Mads and I bought a couple of scandalous books during one of our literature outings. I don’t know if we were on some sort of sugar high or what… I finally got around to reading this book, and I’ll admit that I had sporadic fits of immature giggles throughout the reading. The style is basic Anne Rice, so if you liked the writing in any of her Vampire books, this one will ready rather easily. The content is… interesting to say the least. I’ll say that some of the scenes were a little disturbing…

I really don’t know what to say about this one. Approach with caution.

6. Real Simple: Meals Made Easy, Editors of Real Simple Magazine
I recently purchased this cookbook because the other ones that I have seem way too intense for day-to-day meals. The recipes are straightforward and very simple; most of them are shortcut versions of old standards (e.g. lasagna, baked beans, beef stew). I don’t ever follow recipes to the letter, so the concise instructions and time estimates made it easy to experiment with different additions. Tips for modifying the recipes are provided in the margins too.

A good addition to the repertoire.

7. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I’m glad that I finally read this book. The story chronicles the many members of the Buendia family, illustrating each life story in great detail. When I first took note of the format of the book, I was worried that keeping track of each character would be difficult and confusing (especially since many of them share the same name), but it was really beautifully written and easy to follow. Although my initial impression was that it would be straight fiction, lots of fantastical elements are thrown in. The story becomes one not only of growth and struggle in the family, but also about the loss of magic in the modern era.

All in all, a wonderful read. Everyone should read this book at least once. When I get more solid in Spanish, I’m going to try to find a Spanish copy too.

8. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
An interesting twist on the classic Dracula vampire story. The tale was told with heavy historical context, which I always appreciate. Unfortunately, I thought that one of the final climactic scenes was pretty anti-climactic.

Now I’m working on a Charles de Lint novel that I’ve had in my possession, unread, for at least five or six years now.