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Psychology of the Half Finished Book

I don't know what it means but I have this problem with books. Particularly non-fiction. I get halfway through and something else catches my eye and ::poof:: I start a new one. Mainly this happens with non-fiction. (If fiction isn't good enough to hold my attention throughout, usually I just chunk it - exception noted below). Currently, I have the following books on my bedside table/floor:
Honky Tonk Hero - this one happens to be by my cousin Brad Reagan. It says it's written by Billy Joe Shaver, but Brad did 95% of the actual writing. Don't tell Billy Joe that though. It's a good book, but I allowed myself to get distracted by:
What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World - this is one I don't feel so bad about...read a bit here, read a bit there. Meanwhile,
Women's Room - a 70's feminist novel that Betsy brought home from college. It is also good, though sort of dragging in the middle. So I took a break to read:
Blink - I actually read all of this one. Interesting concepts, but not much practical advice as to what to do with the information. Then I bought a new iPod and wanted to learn the finer points, so I bought:
The iPod Book : Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. OK. I read all of this too and have loaned it to everyone I know who has an iPod. Great book. But I'm still only 3/4 of the way through:
Freakonomics and Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science.

I don't know what this says about me - that I'm easily distracted or unable to finish what I start or what. So that'll be my week-end goal. FINISH SOME BOOKS!

Wiki

I enjoy browsing Craig's List in order to find a job for my daughter Betsy. Of course, she just rolls her eyes when I mention this and says something like, "Mom, it's my life." Picky, picky. Anyway, one of the cool things you can do from a Craig's List city's main page is click the tiny "w" next to the city's name at the top of the page. This takes you to the Wikipedia entry for that city. And this has all sorts of interesting facts and demographic information about that city. So if you, like Betsy, are looking for a place to live and a job, it's just a really cool thing.

Both Wikipedia and Craig's List have in common that their information comes from anyone who wants to post it. If you haven't seen them, you should. Just be sure to have lots of time on your hands.

And now there's a new Wiki thing called wikiHow. On it you can ask how to do things or post an answer to someone else's request. Cool. Maybe there's something I know how to do that no one else does.

Another cool trip!

Having not done anything fun for a while, travel wise, until last month, I am now really getting into it. Last month was Betsy's graduation from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. One of my favorite places on earth. I loved being up there again. I've had a trip to San Francisco planned for August for a while now. Then my good friend Jennie ::hi Jennie:: and I decided ala spur of the moment to book tickets to see Spamalot in NYC in November. And today...I decided that I wanted to go to my sister's 60th birthday party in late June in Missoula, Montana.

Call me a traveling fool.

The Girls

My girls are 12 days into a 7 week trip to Europe. They've done London and the English countryside and are currently in Amsterdam. One of the things that I really love about our relationship is that, after they've sent a family email (to grandparents, dad, stepmom and various aunts and uncles), they send a special one to me telling what they've REALLY been up to. For instance, on one of their nights in the Cotswolds, they described a wonderful walk at night back to their hostel. Betsy then sends me the secret post that they drank an entire bottle of wine while walking and ended up plastered by the time they made it back. Now, I'm not saying I'm proud that they got plastered, but since they're doing that anyway it's really cool that they share it with me.

They've changed their itenerary to skip Bern and Venice and have added more time in Spain. So, after Barcelona, they will head south and Betsy will stay in Madrid a few days and visit with the friends she made there last year and Alice will travel on to the southern coast to see her friend Lizabeth. Betsy will join up with her there.

Evidently, one of the problems was that Alice, and maybe Betsy too, were getting tired of the sub-par accomodations. When I talked to the ex today he was positively gloating that he'd been right that they were trying to squeeze too much into the trip. They should have stayed at nicer places and been gone longer. "I don't want to say I told you so..." Well, don't then you old grumpass.

Frog update

I bought 3 koi, put them in the pond and haven't seen them since. There doesn't seem to be any major reduction in the tadpole population. Except, I saw the first teeny tiny frog that must have emerged from tadpole-dom. Why just 1? Did he eat more than the others? Is he the appointed one who is allowed to rise from the primordial pond, survey the outside world and report back? I'm not knowing.

The Frogs

For the past coupla weeks, I was invaded by frogs. There were 3 of them and they loved my pond. And they were l-o-u-d. I'm not sure who was wooing who, but they all were croaking at the top of their tiny amphibian lungs. I had to resort to earplugs to get to sleep. I went out with a flashlight to see what huge monster was making all the racket and those small things just looked at me, pumped up their throats and went right on with their conversation. My across-the-street neighbor could hear them - he thought it was cute. Of course, his house wasn't resonating with frog-croak like mine.

Then, they were gone. Whew. What a relief.

Except they left something behind.

1 gazillion eggs. Which are now 1 gazillion tadpoles. And growing.

Did I mention that my pond doesn't have any fish in it right now?

Did I mention I'm going to the pet store this afternoon?

Starting...now

Hi, I'm Fay and this is my blog.

I'm not so sure I can tell you what it's about, so let me say what it's not about:
Politics (unless someone reeeeallly annoys me)
Religion
Sex (this is only temporary until someone reminds me what it is)

What I may cover is:
Movies
Books
My kids (prepare to be fascinated - or bored - you choose)
My dogs, cats, house and life - or lack thereof

Visit if you want, leave comments and we'll see how this goes.