GrapefruitsAndRhubarb's Xanga

Names for areas where the water meets the land:

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:42:44 GMT

Bank
Shoreline
Embankment
Coastline
Tide mark
Seashore
Waterfront
Esplanade

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 05:01:50 GMT

I accept your challenge and reply to it in kind:

1. Number of books I own:
About 40 here and about 850 at home.

2. Last book I bought:

From the Bush: The Front Line of Health Care in a Carribbean Village by Marsha B. Quinlan, a book for cultural anthropology.

3. Last book I completed:

An Early History of Craniotomy: From Antiquity to the Napoleonic Era by Louis Bakay. Sounds like a book that I'd possibly make up, but it's real in all its medieval-line-drawing glory. Very nice, specific drawings of ancient perspectives of the mind/soul represented as vessels of wisdom sprouting from the head and heart. I read it for a paper, and it had some strange information on trepanation.

4. Books that mean a lot to me:
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. Nowhere near as self-complementary a book as the title would lead you to believe - the life of a man as he goed through his daily routines and comes to meet his father who wasn't around for his childhood. From a wider view, it's the story of three generations of lonely, awkward men who are all named Jimmy Corrigan. Beautiful drawings and moving characters. I have read very few books that have a story this encompassing and realistic.

The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. I first found this book in my elementary school library and picked it up because it had a crudely, marker-drawn picture of the main characters on the cover and had a gold sticker claiming it had won the (fake) Leonard Prize for Literature (in the style of those Caldecott Award winners). The books tells the tale of three mature kids living in the city who like to stay up late to watch obscure movies at a theater, meeting different residents of the community. More like Kerouac than Amelia Bedelia. This book was one of the first books that I read that felt like it came from the wavelength where I reside.

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut. While not his most famous book (Slaughterhouse Five), this books is one of Vonnegut's best. His usual cast of characters is here, including a World War II veteran, an artist, and a large family. Absurdly touching in parts.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and More by Roald Dahl. It's hard not to like the stories of Roald Dahl. Henry Sugar is more of a recollection of Dahl's days in World War I and some descriptions of other events, both creative and bizarre, than his writing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This book probably came as somewhat of a bridge from my reading of books targeted to kids or the youth audience to reading books that target anyone else.

Other books/writers:
Saul Bellow
Emily Dickinson
Dave Eggers
Edgar Allan Poe
Jack Kerouac
Marcel Proust
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

5. What I'm currently reading:

Godel, Escher, and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter. Just starting this to read about Godel and his incompleteness theorem for a paper later on.

6. Books I hate:

The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Maybe it was the age when I read it, but this is one of the only books where I actively disliked the protagonist (when that didn't seem to be the author's intent).

I am tagging the world at large, I suppose. Tag. You're IT.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 17:52:29 GMT

Someone invented a gun that shoots flowers. And this Japanese scientist invented a robot woman. She's described as helpful, polite, and very concerned.

(from BBC News)

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 22:57:41 GMT

It's such a shame when old friends fall.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 01:10:38 GMT

the story of buildings that used to be other buildings:
-the pizza hut that is now a bank
-the optometrist's office that used to be a chicken restaraunt
-the burger king that is now a florist

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 18:34:30 GMT

May I direct your attention to the following simile:
You're like the coasts of the ocean
Buried beneath is a submarine cable
Connecting the opposite shores that surround it.

When something happens to drag on the floor of the ocean
For instance, an anchor or mooring
The cable can be disrupted, and even be severed
Which halts the transmission across it.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Sat, 12 Feb 2005 20:59:43 GMT

Reviews of Baby's First Snowglobe (from the John Lennon collection)

____________
The snowglobe is very cute, and goes well with the other Lennon items in my baby's nursery. I was really excited to receive this as a gift, but once opened, it disappointed me a bit. It looks great sitting on the shelf, and the scene and animals are cute. When I first got it, it seemed to work, but now if I wind it up, it only plays a few notes. We have only had it for a month. Now it is tightly wound (after asking my husband to look at it) and it doesn't seem to want to play at all. Unfortunately, my very efficient husband threw away the packaging so we can't take it back.
I would recommend this snow globe, but only to those who make sure to keep the packaging and receipt handy just in case.
________________

I bought this snowglobe in 2000 and I am disappointed as I look at it and the water has changed from clear to a pale orange-pink color- I planned to keep it as a keepsake and am just disappointed that it is "ruined".
_________________

We really thought this was a cute item, so we purchased it when I was pregnant. After about six months, we noticed that the water was getting really foggy and it was difficult to see the scene inside. Apparently, the paint that they use to color the animals and tree aren't 100% waterproof. We tried taking it apart, thinking that it might make a cute little figurine without the globe, but it broke.
_________________

I'm expecting my first child in August and decided to go with the John Lennon 'Musical Parade' theme. I just received this snow globe and it is even cuter than it looked online! I was thrilled that it plays "Imagine" because that is one of my favorite songs. It looks and sounds great! It's the perfect addition to my nursery!
_________________

I love the snowglobe, but it had 3 legs plus the winder on the bottom. The winder is actually longer than the 3 legs, so it sits lopsided. I removed the winder, and then found one of the legs was shorter than the other two and it still sat lopsided. So, I stuffed some paper in the shortest leg and leveled it out. I put in the winder when I want the music to play and take it off when done. It's really cute though, I just got the defective one I guess.
_________________

this snowglobe is cute, and looks very nice on my son's bookshelf. He loves looking at the snow... nice addition to anyone's room! My home and work is now complete thanks to this adorable snowglobe...Thanks John for making such a beautiful melody to make such a beautful snowglobe!!!
__________________

I received this item as a gift, because my nursery theme is J.Lennon. It is the most adorable item!! How could you have any complaints?? First of all, it's a keepsake, not something to lull the baby to sleep. It doesn't need to rotate, as another review mentions, how many snowglobes do that?? This item is just perfect the way it is... It plays such a sweet, music box version of "Imagine" that I get misty listening to it. I can't recommend this enough... it's better in person! :)
___________________

I wanted to stay consistant with the john lennon theme so i bought this snowglobe/ musicbox to hand down to my grandson when he got older...just a little something to remember his birth and hold onto throughout his life. The idea of snow in the jungle was an interesting concept to me, so I bought this globe....it is well put together, it plays john lennon's Imagine. It would have been more adorable if it revolved, while the music played.
___________________

At certain times in our lives, we go through experiences that imbue the world with meaning and significance, unseen clarity into our souls and lives that shake us to our core. Siddhartha saw this sitting under his tree. Newton saw this as light refracted through a glass prism in his barn. And I have seen this in the JL Snowglobe. A microcosm of the human condition, set to the poignant melody of "Imagine," the snowglobe provokes thought about the meaning of our materialistic lives and our personal identities for you and Baby. Buy this snowglobe. Buy another. Buy four and position them in each corner of your study and play them simultaneously. For you, your grandkids, and anyone else, this is the snowglobe.
___________________
I got this snow globe as a gift, and it adds to my display so nicely. The wind up music is John Lennon's song "Imagine" and when you shake it there are little sparkles that float around. It is something your baby will not be able to enjoy as much as you, but if you want to tie everything together and fill in some empty space on a shelf or dresser, this is a wonderful addition. My only complaint is that the music does not play long enough, say if you wanted to put your baby down for a nap with the music to lull them to sleep.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 03:19:49 GMT

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 04:39:03 GMT

Where We Met is Where You Will Forget Me

Having returned from Kenya, I have spent the past two weeks becoming reacquainted with this American life. There is so much to appreciate here, so much to see and encounter, none less strange than that found in other parts of the world. The sense that I was losing touch with home became so strong, after weeks living in the village, that when one of my friends there made a joke that President Cheney had invaded Canada since I had been gone, I just became kind of jostled. I knew that that had not happened, but it had been so long since I had heard any news from the rest of the world, that under the conditions, it seemed almost 8% plausible. Thoughts of how the US could possibly have reached that point promptly entered my mind. It's sort of a funny joke, now that I look back on it, now that I'm tucked back in at home.

I didn't know that people still got malaria. Getting a taste of that was an experience...spending 2+ weeks in bed gave me a lot of time to think and write. While resting I became reintroduced to the subtleties of bringing pen to paper. I realized that I can no longer write either cursive or the opposite of cursive. My handwriting has becoming sort of a mix between the both and 8% more satisfying that either Comic Sans or Arial I wrote several stories about elephants though I did not see any there. I did write 4 poems about getting malaria and ensuing thoughts, however.

July. Virtually over. Wow.

So this is real life. More later on said life.

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Thu, 28 Aug 2003 02:52:20 GMT

the Sine of the Times: An Adventure into the Netherworld of Mathematics and Herpetology
AKA
The Other Side of Mexico City
AKA
Skipping Oregon

A Fourteen Part Tragicomedrama

While all great stories have great beginnings, this story is different. It begins with my first day of kindergarten, the day I learned the meaning of civility, chivalry, and courage. It was also the day that I learned the depths to which another human being would go to steal the orange juice and graham crackers of his fellow man. To begin: I was born in the bayou...