Finally, a novel has grabbed me: Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep, and it's sooooo good. Here are two choice quotes:
"What kind of heart did [she] have if she could remorselessly block the crush of another girl? Only if she liked the boy herself could there be justification; otherwise blocking someone else's crush was always and absolutely wrong." This is true - I'd had a sense of its truth for a long time, even without the words to phrase it. It's true even at 32. And it's why I don't tell certain people about my crushes.
"Once they've decided to occur, will the bad coincidences of your life seek you out, their shape changing, their consequences staying the same? Or maybe their shape doesn't even change; maybe they hold form, waiting for you as patiently as turtles."
Prep
Wednesday, August 09, 2006 4:57 PM
2 comments
2 comments
Sorry, lady, this sounds like waffle. Throw us some other quotes?
By 
Arthur Quiller Couch, at
September 27, 2006
Can't. Already returned it to the friend from whom it was borrowed. But...trust me, it was good. If you haven't gone to high school in the US, though, I'm not sure it will translate entirely successfully. Try here, especially the one called "more on shyness."
By Beth Loves Bollywood, at
September 27, 2006
no idea of the theme of this tag, but the person who inspired it is usually right, so why not
From Obi Wan, who didn't formally tag me, but I'm sure won't mind if I give it a whirl. "Tag tag ki baat hai!" as he says, whatever that means. Please keep in mind I just got back from a five-week trip to India yesterday morning, so some of these might be skewed.
I am thinking about
the circumstances under which I will next get to go to India, whether they'll be entirely self-directed or if they will involve something or somebody else, part of a bigger plan or project, or sight-seeing, or what...because all of these things seem possible
I said
whatever accurately expressed my enthusiasm level, and it may have involved squeaking, clapping, bouncing up and down, or other sound/sight effects
I want
to figure out how to keep my house a little cleaner without feeling like I spend all my time cleaning. My house seems so dingy to me today, although that could be because it is not a five-star hotel, which is where I've been sleeping lately.
I wish
it were already truly fall
I miss
India, the smell of wood smoke, laughing with Debbie on the bus, Rajan's mobile phone ring - and the people, the ones I knew and the ones I didn't
I hear
Car Talk on NPR (WILL 580 AM). I did really miss NPR while away.
I wonder
what it will be like to be back at work, what will be awaiting me, how long it will take to feel really back into things
I regret
nothing, really. I may be emotionally over-active, but I'm basically sensible and I don't think I've mad any truly bad decisions.
I am
um, duh, what I just said: "emotionally over-active." That's not a very elegant phrase, but you know what I mean.
I dance
seldom in public, all the time at home
I sing
anytime, anywhere
I cry
waaaay more often than I would like to admit; while I'm not exactly ashamed of it, it gives the impression that I am far more vulnerable and unstable than I really am.
I am not always
as smart as I would like to be (or as I would like others to think I am)
I write
all the time, at work, at home, and I'm thankful for that
I confuse
that which I want to say with what the listener needs/wants to hear
I need
to eat more sensibly
I should
at select occasions think a few more seconds before I write or speak
I finish
hmm...I have no idea...I finish...the things that I'm most excited about and the things I have to - so the things that are most important
I am thinking about
the circumstances under which I will next get to go to India, whether they'll be entirely self-directed or if they will involve something or somebody else, part of a bigger plan or project, or sight-seeing, or what...because all of these things seem possible
I said
whatever accurately expressed my enthusiasm level, and it may have involved squeaking, clapping, bouncing up and down, or other sound/sight effects
I want
to figure out how to keep my house a little cleaner without feeling like I spend all my time cleaning. My house seems so dingy to me today, although that could be because it is not a five-star hotel, which is where I've been sleeping lately.
I wish
it were already truly fall
I miss
India, the smell of wood smoke, laughing with Debbie on the bus, Rajan's mobile phone ring - and the people, the ones I knew and the ones I didn't
I hear
Car Talk on NPR (WILL 580 AM). I did really miss NPR while away.
I wonder
what it will be like to be back at work, what will be awaiting me, how long it will take to feel really back into things
I regret
nothing, really. I may be emotionally over-active, but I'm basically sensible and I don't think I've mad any truly bad decisions.
I am
um, duh, what I just said: "emotionally over-active." That's not a very elegant phrase, but you know what I mean.
I dance
seldom in public, all the time at home
I sing
anytime, anywhere
I cry
waaaay more often than I would like to admit; while I'm not exactly ashamed of it, it gives the impression that I am far more vulnerable and unstable than I really am.
I am not always
as smart as I would like to be (or as I would like others to think I am)
I write
all the time, at work, at home, and I'm thankful for that
I confuse
that which I want to say with what the listener needs/wants to hear
I need
to eat more sensibly
I should
at select occasions think a few more seconds before I write or speak
I finish
hmm...I have no idea...I finish...the things that I'm most excited about and the things I have to - so the things that are most important
six weird habits tag
From Accidental Fame Junkie. I'm not sure what counts as "weird."
1. AFJ may talk to herself, but I sing to myself. All the time, not just in the shower. When inspired, I change the words to whatever's in my head to suit what I'm thinking about. My mom does this too; whether nature or nurture, I think I know its origin.
2. Related, I love to sing along to movies or CDs, and if I don't know the words, I will look them up online and sing with the computer in front of me. I also sing along to classical music with the score out, usually Handel's Messiah.
3. If I'm thinking about how to phrase something, I ghost type it - that is, if I'm not in front of a computer, my fingers still move as though I'm typing what I'm thinking. I attribute this to ten very formative years of piano lessons.
4. Dirty dishes have to go immediately into the dishwasher, not into the sink or on the counter. Right away. And they have to go in a certain way. And the silverware should be sorted as it goes in - one cubby for spoons, one for forks, etc. This last one is pragmatically inspired, since once the dishwasher is done I can just pull one group at a time and put it into the appropriate space in the drawer (because of course I have one of those silverware sorty things in the drawer, with a spoon-shaped area for spoons, etc.) Wow, now that I have written that out, it sounds even weirder.
5. Things that find their way into my car or on to my front porch often do not resurface for months, even years. Both of these areas are supposed to be temporary. In the car, something is in there only if it is needs to be taken from point A to point B, and once the car is back here, the item should go back in the house, but this rarely happens. The porch is similar; usually something goes there because I need to find a more permanent home for it elsewhere but the porch will have to do for now. "For now," she writes, laughing. I put my down comforter out there in April to air it out before folding it carefully and putting it in the closet for the summer. It's still there. I will say, though, that there were some chilly nights in early June when I was on my hammock on the phone and I was really happy to have that comforter in arm's length.
6. I have very strong feelings about when to use capital letters - the less often, the better. Whenever I am asked to edit somebody else's writing (which is often, since that's part of my job), I get really annoyed by things that I think don't need to be capitalized. Like "Internet." I hate that.
1. AFJ may talk to herself, but I sing to myself. All the time, not just in the shower. When inspired, I change the words to whatever's in my head to suit what I'm thinking about. My mom does this too; whether nature or nurture, I think I know its origin.
2. Related, I love to sing along to movies or CDs, and if I don't know the words, I will look them up online and sing with the computer in front of me. I also sing along to classical music with the score out, usually Handel's Messiah.
3. If I'm thinking about how to phrase something, I ghost type it - that is, if I'm not in front of a computer, my fingers still move as though I'm typing what I'm thinking. I attribute this to ten very formative years of piano lessons.
4. Dirty dishes have to go immediately into the dishwasher, not into the sink or on the counter. Right away. And they have to go in a certain way. And the silverware should be sorted as it goes in - one cubby for spoons, one for forks, etc. This last one is pragmatically inspired, since once the dishwasher is done I can just pull one group at a time and put it into the appropriate space in the drawer (because of course I have one of those silverware sorty things in the drawer, with a spoon-shaped area for spoons, etc.) Wow, now that I have written that out, it sounds even weirder.
5. Things that find their way into my car or on to my front porch often do not resurface for months, even years. Both of these areas are supposed to be temporary. In the car, something is in there only if it is needs to be taken from point A to point B, and once the car is back here, the item should go back in the house, but this rarely happens. The porch is similar; usually something goes there because I need to find a more permanent home for it elsewhere but the porch will have to do for now. "For now," she writes, laughing. I put my down comforter out there in April to air it out before folding it carefully and putting it in the closet for the summer. It's still there. I will say, though, that there were some chilly nights in early June when I was on my hammock on the phone and I was really happy to have that comforter in arm's length.
6. I have very strong feelings about when to use capital letters - the less often, the better. Whenever I am asked to edit somebody else's writing (which is often, since that's part of my job), I get really annoyed by things that I think don't need to be capitalized. Like "Internet." I hate that.
