dropped in to say hi!
things continue.
they usually do.
another tough year in completely different ways.
hard new job almost killing me. doing a masters degree in translation. started the year working 3 jobs plus masters degree. barely survived to mid year, taking it somewhat easier since then.
*
i like this new xanga
it feels new and innocent.
*
I miss my dad.
*
my dad's birthday is also my father-in-law's birthday. he is 86 today. I love my father-in-law.
but I miss my dad.
....doing silly silly click click click tasks that pay from 2 to 10 cents a time while I watch TV
gives me money in a paypal account I can spend on stuff I wouldn't otherwise want to risk real money on:
getting things sent over, like A NEW BATTERY for MY LAPTOP(s)! WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
which arrived today
the previous one had died.
ALSO
....BOOKS!!!!..... and DVDs!!!!!!
also arriving today,
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
which I would never otherwise get to see....
HOOOOORAHHHHHH!
home again.
temporarily at least.
I have been running around all over the virtual landscape. mostly cavorting with virtual ships, climbing masts, weathering epic battles, enduring ship wrecks, and slow-soaking in the briny bilge-waters of the age of sail.
what has happened to me?
I have developed a whole new set of wild passions, overnight as it were, as it seemed at first. but then thinking over things, I see a long pattern of things, long liked, shippy things, which I had never named or recognised as having the theme of shippiness.
i like insects too. some of them.
but not nearly as much as ships, sailing ships, and most specifically age of sail sailing ships.
there is a very specific specificity of 'What I Like' and 'What I Don't Like'. I instantly know which is which, but I don't always know why, until I build up a big enough data base of both to determine the pattern behind each. and then usually find the results surprising.
I am officially surprised to be surprised by myself. and wonder where I may be headed....
*
On a more Real Life note, we seem to be entering in a New Age of Second Hand Cars, and a parallell Age of Many Computers. For selling (the former) and gleefully minding (with full use privileges) (the latter). We also have an Age of Not-very-wet Wet Season and Many, Many Flowers. The Age of Dogs is well in its heyday.
the AGe of Useful, Helpful Adolescents just doesn't want to seem to take off. but that is probably just asking for too much.
all the stuff i would buy if I had lots of money:
books...journals.... computers....cameras.....ship things....fob watches.....
but i would be no happier
i might even be less happy, having everything I could desire
and nothing to dream about
(at present, we are 'poor', as poor as we've ever been; but also as rich 
)
my goodness, but it's been a long time since I've come here to stay for a bit.
sorry if it caused any vague wondering on the part of anyone who might have noticed.
i DO follow my subscriptions by email. i guess my internet routine has changed, with my ship obsession, a browsing picture obsession (especially of ships), diverting my attention to TUMBLR
and have done more private online writing on 750 words. sometimes.
but my first and eternal internet love will always be Xanga, and I am sorry to have strayed so long.
So here are some pictures, from this, probably the fastest year of my life...and getting faster..... all the time.....
lucky i'm learning to type faster too!;
Lily
Lily and Abuelita Nani. Lily is up there because she was planning to steal some peaches from the PRIEST's GARDEN!!!
naughty girl!
Abuelita Nani and Bela, one week after her 15th birthday.
but not quite as tall as she looks:
and after the intial dread of starting again, it is SUCH a relief to discover how very much i like what i do
I really like my students and I really like my classes.
- i was worried, while on holidays.
i forgot how much i loved teaching.
i always get a bit of performance anxiety before stepping back into the classroom
but teaching always gives me a high, cures my ills, and makes me feel happy,.
hoorah!
A response to Ryan's 2011 booklist
I love a booklist.
My own booklist, had i kept one, would have been way shorter last year, maybe the shortest in years, because I have never re-read so many books before, and in so short a space of time. My age of sail obsession saw me read and re-read my first 6 copies of patrick o'brian's Aubrey Maturin books, as well as The Bounty.
but on to Ryan's list:
IN PURPLE those I've read.(in any language - actually probably if i've read it, I've read it in English)
* those i've heard of and would like to read
@ those i've heard of and WOULDN'T like to read.
/ maybe would read
unmarked: not read, nor knowingly heard of
52. Glengarry Glen Ross - David Mamet
51. How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack - Chuck Sambuchino
50. The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller (vomit vomit)
49. The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks@ (because i read a TERRIBLE nicholas sparks book and hated it)
48. 11/22/63 - Stephen King*
47. The Visible Man - Chuck Klosterman*
46. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling - only it was the Philosopher's Stone, and in REAL ENGLISH that I read it.
45. The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett*
44. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
43. Downtown Owl - Chuck Klosterman
42. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks @ (because i read a TERRIBLE nicholas sparks book and hated it)
41. Daisy Miller - Henry James - mmm maybe would read. read some henry james and found very dull.
40. A Fringe of Leaves - Patrick White
39. Brida - Paulo Coelho @ (because i read a TERRIBLE Coelho book and hated it)
38. Death in Venice - Thomas Mann @ because it sounds dull
37. Ett land du aldrig sett: 36 berättelser om Sverige - (Various)
36. Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice /maybe
35. Einstein's Refrigerator - Steve Silverman
34. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
33. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
32. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins * and got an electronic version in the queue
31. Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
30. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
29. Shopgirl - Steve Martin
28. Der Träumende Delphin - Sergio Bambaren
27. Illusions - Richard Bach
26. Inés del Alma Mía - Isabel Allende
25. The Giver - Lois Lowry
24. Under a Cruel Star - Heda Margolius Kovály
23. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
22. El Principito - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
21. Germs, Genes, & Civilization - David P. Clark
20. El Viejo y el Mar - Ernest Hemingway*
19. The Graduate - Charles Webb
18. Red Alert - Peter Bryant
17. Das Letzte Gefecht/(The Stand) - Stephen King* but in English
16. Fodor's Exploring Japan - David Scott
15. Pigeon Poo, the Universe & Car Paint - Karl Kruszelnicki
14. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. The Story of English - Philip Gooden*
12. Rebelión en la granja/(Animal Farm) - George Orwell
11. The Plague - Albert Camus
10. Understanding Exposure - Bryan Peterson
9. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad did i read this? i know i started it.....
8. The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
7. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
5. The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin
4. The Art of Non-Conformity (1) (2) - Chris Gillebeau
3. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
2. Eating the Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman
1. La chica que soñaba con una cerilla y un bidón de gasolina/
(The Girl Who Played With Fire) - Steig Larsson
Recent Comments