If you’re going to use the threat: ” If you touch my butt one more time I’ll punch you so hard that…”, you really need to have something prepared to say at the end, or you just end up sounding stupid.
Monthly Archives: September 2006
Those dang Dixie Chicks
I’ve been saying I was going to post this for a couple days at least now, and seeing as it’s been ages since I posted last, and Zoe is asleep, I figured now was a good time. Despite the title of this post, it’s not really all that much about the Dixie Chicks, they’re just the catalyst for my thoughts. See, they were on Ellen the other day, and if you’ll allow me a brief digression, can I just say, shorts and high heels do not fashion make. I don’t care how dressy the shorts are, it just looks stupid. If you want to show off your legs and want the lengthening power of heels- wear a skirt. If you don’t want the potential slippage that can happen with skirts, then make your choice. Legs or comfort, I don’t care which, but this shorts/heels thing has to stop.
Ahem.
This post really isn’t about fashion, I promise. It’s about the first amendment. I’m all about the first amendment. I absolutely believe that you should be able to say or write or sing whatever you wish without the risk of being arrested or imprisoned. What I don’t believe is that the first amendment guarantees that you can say whatever you want and no one will get mad at you. As I said above, I’m not necessarily saying this about the Dixie Chicks, their interview just got me thinking about it. It seems that people assume that their right to say what they wish to means that there won’t be any repercussions. You hear it all the time; someone says something inflamatory, and when someone else reacts, the original speaker gets indignant and starts spouting off about the first amendment. Someone deciding not to listen to your record, or protesting, or even just arguing with you is not violating your first amendment rights.
That’s all I have to say, and I don’t have a clever way to end this, so that’s just the end. But I reiterate, shorts + high heels = bad bad bad.
Books 9/22/06
The reading goes slowly these days. As I said in a previous post, I got asked to take on quite a bit of responsibility at church, and the process of getting myself organized for that is taking up the extra time when Zoe’s asleep that previously went to reading. But I did manage to get a couple books in. Darling husband, stop reading now if you don’t want to know anything about the book you’re currently reading. 
Bright Ideas for Young Women Leaders by Trina Boice: Can you guess what responsibility I took on? I’m the new Young Women’s President, which for those of you who don’t know means that I’m in charge of the organization for 12-18 year old girls. It’s super fun, and this book has some fantastic ideas. I’ve stolen a bunch already, and will be using a bunch more.
Dzur by Steven Brust: It’s rare that I get so excited about a book coming out that I start jumping up and down, but when I found out this book was out (I had no idea it was coming), there was definitely some jumping going on. This is the most recent in the Vlad Taltos series, and I love me some Vlad. The last book left some major plot points open, and this book picks up those threads. It’s similar to the other books in the series in that you don’t really have any idea what’s going on until a fair way into the book, and what turns out to be happening is interesting, BUT… I was left quite unsatisfied. It felt like the action was only just starting and then the book was over. None of the threads I was so excited to follow came anywhere near being resolved, and some of them didn’t even progress. The next book better come out super soon, because I’m going to go crazy otherwise. But Brust’s trademark humor is in full force, there were moments that were so funny that it was all I could do not to fall over laughing. One full chapter has laugh after laugh, and it truly was an enjoyable read. I just wish it was that much longer.
I’m currently reading both Immortality by Milan Kundera and The Savior and the Serpent by Alonzo Gaskill, an old teacher of mine. Both are excellent.
Current total: 63 (I’m so behind it’s sick.)
Currently reading: Immortality by Milan Kundera and The Savior and the Serpent by Alonzo Gaskill
Books I’m currently not reading
In the past three (four?) weeks I’ve managed to read only two books. Things have been busy with the little Zo monster, and I recently got asked to take on quite a bit of responsibilty at church, and the result is that my book time has been decreased. I did read both Kerry Greenwood’s Flying Too High and the first draft of Jamie S. Rich’s new novel Have You Seen the Horizon Lately. Greenwood’s book is everything I expected, characters that I love, nice mystery that tied up well. Jamie’s book was an interesting experience because it ties into his previous novels, and features Percy, the lesser seen brother of Lance and Tristan, two characters that I adore. That made for a strange experience, because as weird as it sounds, I feel like I know Lance and Tristan, and I barely knew Percy at all- maybe passed him in a hallway. So reading a book about him was like going on vacation with a friend of a friend– you’re not really sure how it’s going to go. But I’m pleased to report that it went swimmingly. Jamie does a fantastic job of making characters come alive, and Percy is now as real to me as his brothers, and his joy and pain are just as real. There are beautiful themes of searching for meaning, of redemption, of the power stories have to connect people. I can’t wait to see the final draft with the rough edges polished away, because there’s really a diamond in there.
But this post is titled “Books I’m currently not reading”, and I have a stack. I started Patrick Neate’s The London Pigeon Wars, and it still looks fascinating, but there appear to be two storylines, one with pigeons and one with people, and only the one with the pigeons was interesting me, and from the little bit I read it seemed to be more about the people. I may be wrong, and I’ll go back to it if I have it out of the library long enough.
I also have The Book of the Damned, by Tanith Lee, another one I started and put aside, and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore. I always see Moore’s books and feel like I should read them, but I just can’t get started. I also have Soseki Natsume’s I am A Cat, which looks awesome.
The book I finally started reading today, and actually started reading out loud to Zo