Call from Indonesia

AN EXCERPT from an EMAIL FROM MY DAD: Out ot the fitful slumber of the elderly a call came @ 0505 from Moo somewhere in the Maluku islands on the Northwest coast of Australia. The Geologist was busy cranking the phone for power and it came in loud and clear.

They are on a small island measuring coral reefs that are now dry land. They are staying in a small hotel and the food is great. They have gekos in their room and they chirp at night. The stars are close enough to grab and they are very excited to be there. They have taught the local kids to place Uno and other card games. Mu is working on learning some of the language...

Add Two More to the List

I nabbed a copy of River Secrets by Shannon Hale from the library on Thursday night. It's classic Shannon Hale: lyrical prose, humor, characters overcoming inadequacies…I love her characters. The key thing that sets this book apart from her others is the main character. He's had some appearances in The Goose Girl and Enna Burning. (the fact that a male is the main character should alert you that this is different from her other books). Razo, the funny, fiercely loyal companion from those books takes center stage in River Secrets. Razo is awesome (and Hale says he is her favorite character. It sounds like that's been true since he first cropped up in her writing). I didn't realize that he was so great until this book, though, because his other appearances have been relatively minor. He has a killer sense of humor, he's frank with his insecurities, and he reminds me so much of one of my brother it's almost scary. This brother misses the obvious sometimes, but he more than makes up for that in his amazing abilities to connect with people, to remember people's names, to care about them, to make people laugh and feel at ease. Just like my brother, Razo does all of those things. Since this brother is serving a mission in Mexico right now and I only get an email from him once a week, I miss him a lot. Reading this book was like reviewing all of my favorite things about my brother. It was fabulous.
Razo is short for his age, gets beat up by his older brothers, is mocked by other soldiers because he isn't good a sword play or grappling or looking imposing—all the things soldiers are supposed to be good at. It turns out he does have some amazing skills though…he just needed a chance to discover them. In the meantime, Razo is racing the clock to discover who is burning bodies in an attempt to incite a war between two countries. Hale manages to pull in some the elements of modern (real) life: people who feel so strongly about their beliefs they are willing to hurt others to make a point. That kind of anger, the kind where you are willing to break the law when it isn't on your side, the kind where you are willing to hurt the people who think differently than you just because they think differently, is scary. It's scary because it's unpredictable. It's unpredictable because those people see themselves as above the rules. They decide what is right and wrong and punish their opponents accordingly—not by the schoolyard rules of challenging you to your face, telling you to meet in the parking lot after school, but sneaky, run in an murder
someone in a crowded street while screaming propaganda kind of rules. There's a little romance thrown in too. Would it be a Shannon Hale novel without that? (you'll have to ask her. As a sort of related aside, she does have this great blog, squeetus.com where she reveals how trying it is to be a writer, and tells you real life things about herself. Check it out.)

The other book I read this weekend is The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison. It would be more appropriately titled, The Prince and the Hound. But I guess they were trying to secure female readers, while precluding a lot of guys with the girly title and the girly picture on the front cover. (guys, you could probably enjoy this too. Don't let the cover and the title fool you). It's a pseudo retelling of a famous fairy tale. If the back cover hadn't told me that, I wouldn't have recognized it (well, maybe I would have, but seriously! Why give away something like that when it's cooler for the reader to figure it out themselves????!!!!) Don't read the back
cover or a summary and instead figure it out for yourself. Anyway, it's a fantasy novel. The main character is a prince. In fact, the princess doesn't get all that much time in the book, that's the NEXT book. (Thank you Stephanie Meyer for reviving what Orson Scott Card started when he wrote Ender's Game from another character's perspective. Now, I guess it's The Thing to do.) Like I said, it's a book guys could enjoy because it's not all princessy. Actually, the princess is sort of an odd girl anyway, so she's not frilly and girly at all. But I digress. The prince has animal magic, something that people in his country highly prejudiced against (so much so that they
burn people at the stake for it). So he keeps it hidden. He's bound and contained by the duties of being a prince and the fear that his gift will be discovered. When he consents to marry the princess from a neighboring enemy country, he's doing it out of duty. But he meets her and is smitten. Now, don't expect a goopy, lovey, chic flick romance kind of story. True, it's a romance, but it's not following the traditional pattern (except that there are two people who you want to be in love). The characters are emotionally scarred so they approach love a lot differently than traditional fairy tale romances. And they are both preoccupied by other pressing matters—like running countries and the horrors of prejudice against people who are different. It was a pleasure to read, but not in a comfortable, predictable way.--Lu

Hobo or Javelina?

My two beautiful little peppers (yellow "sweet" peppers) were picked by an unknown hand (mouth?) last week. The only veggies I can call my own and now they're gone.
P.S. they taste pretty nasty. So I don't think they were worth stealing. Unless it was a javelina. They probly don't care about how sweet the peppers are).

Follow Up

You know how I told you about The Rock's interest in the cover of that one book (about the witches and the evil wizard)? Well, I asked him last night.
Me: What about this cover catches your interest?
The Rock: It's all colorful and cartoony.
Me: Did it ever interest you because there is One guy surrounded by a hoard of girls?
The Rock: [with a touch of disdain] The thought never entered my mind.

And thus we see Lu's ability to read her husband is slightly lacking. (Although, I CAN read books pretty well. Hopefully that has some merit.)

You know how on Microsoft Word, you can pull down a menu, and it shows recent documents you've opened? I use that quite frequently as a shortcut to accessing documents (duh, that's what it's there for). Anyway, there is a document listed that I have NOT EVER opened (or created, for that matter) in my life. And when I try to open it, to see what the heck it says...yeah. It says the filename/path is invalid and to please try again.

BUT I DON'T know what the heck it is! so how will I know where it's stored now. How did it even get on that list if I didn't open it? (and I'm the only person who uses, or, at least, is supposed to use this computer. I have a password! Doesn't that mean something anymore?)

Formatting, Book Picks, Friends and Grocery Bag Man

In defense of the crummy formatting of my blog posts: I don't have consistent access to regular internet. (read: we are too cheap to buy internet, even though I feel disconnected from the world without it. So...I post via email.) And somehow, google's email is formatting my posts in a really crummy way.

It might be my fault for not changing a setting. But then again, it might be google's fault: shouldn't they know that I want them to format in a way that doesn't have returns (the result of hitting the enter key) in places I didn't put them?) I'm going to angrily hit return now. (show them who's in charge of the enter key).

As for when Moo will leave for Indonesia: I don't know. She was supposed to leave Saturday. But then, it was Tuesday. Did she really leave on Tuesday? I don't know. (I know I'm her sister, but did I call her on Tuesday? No. Did she call me? No. At this point it's tempting to make up an answer. Wouldn't that be fun? Making up blogs about what her life is like? I say Yes. If she's not submitting any posts, what's to stop me from doing it for her?)

I have a few comments today, but I'm starting with some recently read books (as per a good friend's request) but there's a bus-type story after the book reviews:

Book number one:

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

This book is AWESOME! I love reading it. And so does The Rock (I'm reading it out loud to him), but he LEFT for a CONFERENCE with 20 pages to go. Needless to say, the book is now a great temptation. It's on my kitchen table begging me to read it.

I've managed to resist so far.

It starts with a kid (I'm guessing 13/14 years old) in prison because he stole something from the king. He's a braggart, cocky, and somehow lovable from the very beginning. He is rudely awoken one night, taken into the palace, and enlisted in the king's service (so he's not stuck in prison the whole book, thankfully) as a thief, to steal the most prized goal for thieves: Hiamathes Gift.

The kid is funny, he's a typical whiny teenager, but somehow the author pulls that off without making him annoying. Instead you like him from moment one. There's a lot of suspense because there are so many unanswered questions. Hence the temptation to keep reading without The Rock.

There are three books in the series (argh. Is anyone else sick of reading series? I love and I hate them.) but don't make the mistake of reading the library summary for book three (or maybe the back cover for that matter, I don't know, because I don't want any more ruined for me!) because it will give away more than you wanted to know. Grr. The library shouldn't post summaries like that.

Book two:

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

I don't know how I managed to find two humorous books in a row, but it happened. The main character (I never remember their names, shame on me) has a dad who is on a fishing boat, and her mom goes out to retrieve him from a storm. Neither return, and in spite of that circumstantial evidence, the main character insists that they are not dead.

In the mean time, she's moved around in her small town to different caretakers with one odd/funny thing happening after another. The title stems from a restaurant in her town where everything is served on a waffle. Recipes included. The people are so quirky they seem real. You know how all of your friends have little oddities about them that make them even better to be friends with? Well so do the characters in this book.

Book Three:

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson

The version of this book that I have from the library has a cartoon drawing of a guy surrounded by the faces of 6 or 7 women. The women are UGLY (except for one) and look distinctly like nasty, ugly, gross witches (interestingly, that's exactly what they are). The Rock has taken a great interest in this book's cover since I brought it home. Is it because there is one guy and a gaggle of girls surrounding him? Is it because the witches are ugly? What is the draw? (if he weren't at a Conference, I'd ask him, but on the phone, he'll be evasive, so we'll just have to wait for the answer. So much waiting!)

Ok.

So the guy is a wicked wizard. He does dastardly deeds (but nothing so dark or heavily described as to make you feel uncomfortable. This is a CHILDREN'S BOOK for crying out loud! In fact, mostly the author tells us he's awful, but not enough to really make you feel like he's awful. As a result, you end up sympathizing with him). And why the sympathy? Because he needs to find a wife (isn't finding a spouse everyone's biggest source of agony in life? I bet you already sympathize with him).

So, who are candidates for a wicked wizard? Witches of course. Hence the nasty women on the front of the book. Many shenanigans follow, including one really old witch who frequently, in a moment of forgetfulness, turns herself into an end table. (maybe the front cover should show five ugly witches, one beautiful witch and one end table. Would The Rock be interested in that, I wonder?)

*****

In other news, I now have friends who ride the bus. A guy from church, an attorney, a lady who just started working downtown, and a woman from the IT department. Isn't that a nice contrast to the usual bus stories? I think so.

But, can I tell you a hobo story, and put the nice part of the bus rides behind us? (the nice part was fleeting, I know, but that's symbolic of real life on the bus.)

So, there is a hobo, who I think has come to my bus stop mostly on Mondays. But other days as well (and believe me, I desperately wanted to ask, Why are you here Today? Is it a Special Occasion?, but I refrained, we're not that good of friends (yet)).

But he did tell me about wanting to go to LA. (When he gets the money, of course. Isn't that what's keeping all of us from moving to LA?) His most distinguishing characteristic is the multitude of plastic grocery bags full of his possessions (or are they full of trash? I desperately want to ask about that as well, but...is that offensive? too personal? Ah. What are the rules of etiquette with hobos?).

He carries at least 7 or 8 grocery bags (double or triple bagged for extra strength). That means about four per hand. He walks up to the bench, carefully sets down all of the bags and then, when he sees the bus, he rearranges them so that most, if not all, are in one hand (easier to pay for the bus ride if you have a free hand to hold your change/pass).

So, there he is one fine morning. Bags on the bench, bags on the ground, bags all around (I feel a poem coming on). Anyway, that day I had my regular "purse" bag (although I loathe purses and so hesitate to call it a purse, but...it's a purse-like bag). AND I was carrying two grocery bags. Bags that looked just like his. I felt like the guy's porter. Or little sister. How could I avoid it? There is one bench, facing a main road that leads directly downtown.

So there he and I stood, for the whole world to see our commonalities. I felt embarrassed, then I said, Self, what's to be embarrassed about. If you were driving a car, and saw this scene at the bus stop, you would laugh about it. So, I carried my bags with pride as I followed him onto the bus.

Don't you wish (I know I do) that I could have taken a picture?

I would have labeled it Hobo in Training. --Lu.

Indonesia

Why it's cool to have a hubby who is in a graduate program for Geology: For research purposes, Moo and the Geologist are heading to Indoneisa.

From Moo's email:

"We'll first be in Bali for a day, or leave right away if we can, to Ambon (the old Dutch capital of the Spice Islands---city and island name), from there to the Banda Islands by boat for a few days, then either by boat or plane to Kisar (island) and some of the nearby islands---Moa, Sermata, Leti--which aren't too
far from the bigger island of Timor if you try and find them on a map. We'll probably be at those islands for a few weeks doing the majority of the research. After that, we'll go to Java to the city of Djokjarta to meet with people at one of the universities there. Then we'll go back to Bali and home again.

I'll bring back a monkey and case of malaria for everyone. So just be sure to have a cage ready---I don't think I'll have room to pack those. Jk. We're going to be as careful as we can while we're there, and we're buying all of the necessary medicines and bug and Komodo
Dragon repellants and water purifiers, etc." --Moo

Observed

Outside of a large, ritzy hotel in downtown San Diego: a union demonstration complete with chants about retirement rights, people in red t-shirts, reporters, posters/signs on sticks, and a person in a
skunk costume.
They had assembled on a street corner just in front of the hotel. I passed by them, cutting closer to the hotel and when I looked up, I saw someone sort of leaning out of a fourth floor window listening to the protesters: a maid for the hotel. I think she was listening to the people who were protesting for better wages for people like her--while she was at work. I wonder if she wanted to join them? --Lu