2006-09-22 
 

book meme

Found this over at Brian’s and decided to tag on because I love books.

1. One book that changed your life: The Bible. (sorry Brian) Close examination of the Old Testament and an increasing interest in Judaism when I was 15 made me realize that the whole book needed to be taken with a pinch of salt, and was open to interpretation. It was that same year that I had my first conversation with God about being gay and God was fine with it. (I should mention this was also the same year I first read Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land which had equal impact on my personal philosophies.)

2. One book that you've read more than once: Just one? Are you trying to spin me out of control by limiting things? I'll list some I've read more than thrice. Chronicles of Narnia every few years, Harry Potter Series whenever a new one comes out, almost everything by Heinlein, The Pern Series by McCaffery. All have been reread numerous times.

Oh, and the early books of the Old Testament because they’re really handy when confronting fundamental folk. Confronting them with the rules listed variously in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy usually confuses them and may even open their minds a bit. Conversely, if they stubbornly agree with those books verbatim regarding slavery, rape, general inequality of the sexes, and…what’s that other thing? Oh yes, homosexuality. If they agree with all that, then I know to run far and fast.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Complete and Unabridged Collected Works of Everything…and an internet connection to read it through. That sucker’s too heavy to carry around with me.


4. One book that made you laugh: ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy had M and I in stitches for a good hour or so and still provides me with a chuckle when I think back to that day. Shamu in mysterious ways!

5. One book that made you cry: More than one has, but Bridge Over Terabithia was the first. It stunned me that a story I’d been living in my head could have such an effect on me and made me hope that someday I’d be able to do that.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Not sure about a book, but how about a headline? Religious Right Owns Being Wrong, Bush Resigns and Peace Breaks Out All Over. (Headline on Food Section would of course extol the virtues of a Red Wine and Chocolate Diet.)

7. One book that you wish had never been written: None. I believe too strongly in free speech to censor anyone, even the idiots.

8. One book you're currently reading: There's two right now. Erich Kastner’s The Flying Classroom and Aldous Huxley’s The Island (yes, still reading the latter…I got halfway through a few months back and was distracted by several other books – back again)

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Oddly, I can ditto Brian’s answer for this one. Guns, Germs and Steel. For quite some time now it’s been sitting by my bed and coming on vacations with me, but I’m still only a few chapters in. Pretty interesting so far, not sure what my block is on this one.

10. Now tag five people: How many times do I have to tell you? Mikey don’t play that. If you want it, it’s yours.

Labels: memes

* posted by me at 7:31 PM

(1) comments



2006-09-13 
 

Alden’s recent post got me thinking.

While I never hid my true name on this site, I have recently created an alternate account where I can just write what I feel without the fear of worrying folks because writers sometimes like to EXAGERATE to EXORCISE their demons. Since this site has a tendency to be a bit of an open letter to everyone in my life, I’m overly cautious how I state things. Good training for myself as a writer, but not always as cathartic as I’d like.

Random example: I keep (and would like to continue) this site at a PG-13 level. Elsewhere, I can go to R and not fret. (Yes, sometimes typing in a few of George Carlin’s unacceptable words is fun.)

Aside from the above, I also took a little trip down memory lane.

Years ago, a good friend and I read the original Griffin and Sabine book and became obsessed with the idea that it’s easier to express true feelings to a total stranger than with the closest of friends. Having no internet at the time, (1992) we began exchanging postcards and letters under assumed names that spoke dramatically and poetically about our current plights. Being vaguely anonymous, we allowed ourselves to go over the edge about our middle class traumas in a way that would’ve felt selfish had we done it under the guise of our real names. We exorcised demons that may’ve stunted our growth otherwise.

While I’m not so brave as to connect his name to mine here, I will confess that he will always exist within me; and that I still find comfort in expressing my words through him when life deals me a low hand.

Labels: blogging, memory lane

* posted by me at 9:09 PM

(1) comments



2006-09-09 
 

property envy

I'm tired of being a renter. Really tired. Each month I'm basically handing over a large chunk of money in order to help someone else have a nice investment. I just did a quick calculation, and the time I've been in San Francisco, I've spent over 100,000 dollars on rent. You can buy a whole house for that in some parts of the country. Grant you, it's been over 10 years, but it makes my head hurt thinking about it.

Not to mention, if I'd sucked it up and done that shortly after moving here, I'd have at least tripled my investment by now. Nowadays a condo the size of my first studio apartment goes for 250,000 or more.

Question: Would G and I kill each other if we squashed ourselves into a studio type home? Probably. Without alone time, I get super cranky

Question: Can I envision myself living way out in suburbia and commuting into SF for work. More likely, but it makes my stomach hurt to think about it. One of my goals when I moved to SF was to avoid the commute. I hated the fact that my job in Boston required that I spend up to two hours of my day in transit. So, when I moved out here, I promised myself I'd do no more than 30 minutes commuting. Today it takes me less than that to get to work. Could I give it up and think of the time spent commuting as money in the pocket? Maybe.

Question: How happy will I be living in suburbia? Oooogh. Don't even want to think about it. Especially since you have to go pretty far out into suburbia to get back into the affordable range.

Question: Can we up and move to another part of the country? Hmmm. Possible, but the truth is that I'm currently rather happy with my job...and it pays pretty well which might allow the dream of property to become a reality...if I set my mind to it.

This past March, my answer would've been different, but after a good 8 months of suckage, things have improved quite drastically...even better than before the suckage began in fact.

Is it my dream job? No. Want to hear a secret? My dream job is to work the register at Barnes & Noble. (I hear you snickering, but it's true.) Maybe work my way up to Assistant Manager someday, but no more than that. (and yes, I'm aware of the irony given that I do like my modern toys and shiny car, but I didn't say it was a practical dream...yet) Problem of moving from here to another company elsewhere within my industry is that I really have no interest in the industry. None. I realized this recently when interviewing for...well never mind.

Someday, after I've left the current job, I'll tell you all about it. There's a whole side of my life there that doesn't get expressed here because I'm a wimp who doesn't want to get fired. Marketing means you're in possession of knowledge that other companies would dearly like to get their hands on. When I think about what that knowledge actually consists of, it seems almost humorous...but TPTB would have my head, so I keep mum.

Question: Isn't the bubble about to burst? That's what they say, but they've said that for the past 7 years. If I had been really smart and ignored them 6 years ago when I first seriously considered buying, I'd have made enough money off the investment to make a move back east more possible today.

Question: Am I out of debt enough to be thinking about this? If all goes well, I will be by next summer. If I tie myself to a 30 year mortgage at that point, I'll be just entering retirement time when it gets paid off. Irony? 6 years ago I moved into a VERY high rent apartment that played a large part in creating the debt I'm still paying off instead of waiting 6 months and buying a house. Okay, that's an oversimplification of a complicated story, but if I could just get hold of the me I was back then and have a little chat I'd be looking at the ability to retire early versus hoping I'll actually own a home when I do so at the usual age.

Ugh. Retirement. Another thing I didn't start saving for in time, but fortunately I've caught up on it a little bit.

Point of this whole exercise? I encourage you to buy now. Buy small if you have to and work your way up...but do it now.

Just thought of something...if I did meet the me I was 6 years ago, I would tell him to not ignore that job opportunity at Google. Damn, I could be retired now! (and working part time at B&N)

Labels: dose of mikey, g

* posted by me at 2:22 PM

(0) comments