What would it take to get you to start a new life on a new world?
Sponsored by AVATAR. In theaters December 18. Buy tickets now.
Nothing short of a catastrophic natural or political disaster. The vast majority of my ancestors were not explorers; they were refugees, in a sense. They fled poverty, hunger, and religious persecution. I couldn't leave my home for anything less than that, either.
Tomorrow is Mr. P's birthday, and I have a surprise in store for him. Can't wait to spring it on him!
What's the worst book you've ever read?
If a book is really, really crappy I will put it down. Crappy as in bad prose and a boring plot. So "worst" to me means books that I have read all the way through and still hated. Wuthering Heights is definitely up there. I hated all the characters. I mean, really loathed them. I wanted them all to die horrible deaths. Heart of Darkness gets the prize for most boring book. It wasn't very long, but good heavens was it tedious.
If you could hang out with any movie character for a day, whom would you choose as your sidekick?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.
Listen, "Avatar Community", if I get to hang out with any movie character I choose, I'm gonna pick a leading man, not a sidekick. Let's be real.
If I had to pick a sidekick specifically, you can't go wrong with a wizard, elf, Dunedin, or a stouthearted hobbit, could you?
What’s your favorite movie quote of all time?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.
Perhaps not of all time, but certainly of Christmas time:
"Fra-GEE-lay....must be Italian!"
Followed very closely by:
"Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!"
What one film do you think everyone should see?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.
Oh lord, so many. Right now I'm in the mood for The Fugitive, though, so I'll go with that one.
"Care to revise your statement, sir?"
"What?"
"Do you want to change you bullshit story, sir?"
Christmas? I guess? I think I'm done Christmas shopping, which is good, since I hate Christmas shopping. I love giving gifts, but I hate crowds and shopping and the mall, and we have no money. So, I didn't do too much buying this year. I am not yet, however, done making Christmas gifts, as that is what most people on our list are getting. And this weekend is the last chance I'm going to get to get stuff done, so the sewing machine is humming.
As usual, my niece makes out like a bandit. I made a frilly flannel Xmas dress for her, and a cape. A little red riding hood cape. Only pink and fleece, which I figure will be practical in New England.
And a fancy schmancy button...
And little arm holes....
In the meantime, I've been working my way through the black and white pictures from the Xmas burlesque show. Should have them all up soon....
My friend Meredith haz my mug.
My Nook was delivered yesterday! I'm so excited about it - its
everything I was expecting and I'm excited to buy books for it. On
Tuesday night we drove to a Barnes & Nobles about thirty miles away in
order to get a cover for it (our B&N didn't have cases, just a
display) and I'm really happy with the one I choose. It was between
the brown one and a red one. The red one was nice, but I was looking
for low-key.
I was also happy to go online and see that B&N has adjusted their
eBook prices to MATCH Amazon! I bought "Her Fearful Symmetry" -
originally $26.99 in hardcover, now $7.29 in hardcover - for $5.79!
Brilliant, isn't it?! I've got so many books I want to buy - let's
just hope that I can hold back!
On the way back from the latest work trip to the boonies* last night I stopped at the fabric store to get a zipper for the Christmas dress I'm making for my niece. At the cutting table the young lady working there declared to her co-workers that the next day is her 18th birthday and she was so excited because "only two more years and I can get a gun." I thought I had misheard her-- the fabric cutting table not really being my image of the bastion of the NRA. But then she confirmed it, saying, "I so want a gun!"
One of her coworkers then pointed out that one needs to be 21 in VA to get a handgun. The young lady didn't see the import of that piece of information. Actually, she said, "Yeah, I know." Coworker pointed out that that was three years, not two. Girl argued with her for a while, insisting that it was only two more years, not three. Eighteen, employed, almost armed, and 21-18=3 is beyond her grasp.
Guess she'll be disappointed on her twentieth birthday. I think I fear for the rest of us.
Of course, she also declared, loudly, in front of a large group of customers, that someone asked her if she had any kids yet, and that she had responded, pointing animatedly at her crotch, "nothing is coming out of THIS until I'm MARRIED." The other women working at the cutting table stood blinking for a moment. Then one asked if she could take the next customer.
Meanwhile, this trip I got my regular deer season experience of a six year old, after being bidden to draw a picture of something that makes him happy, rendering a scene of himself holding a rifle larger than the body he'd given himself, busily killing forest creatures. In this case a deer, which was rather well drawn-- a good sized buck with a nice rack of antlers. The kid wanted to tell me all about his picture, turning his face towards me, the light glinting off his coke bottle glasses, and happily describing his snuffing out of the animal. I'm thinking that I may want to think twice about hiking in the woods around here, as they appear to be populated by nearly blind, heavily armed six year olds, and potentially armed not terribly bright young women.
* I should point out that, while the Littlest Hunter was in the boonies, the fabric store vigilante was in a suburb of Richmond.
