Monthly Archive for December, 2009

Of Bees and Mist

Published on December 30, 2009 in Beloved and Books n Stuff. 1 Comment

For Christmas this year Beloved and I decided that we would do a few things for the house instead of buy each other presents, doing the one thing I said we would never do. I was always a bit disparaging of couples who would buy their own present and wrap it up for themselves, that sort of thing. But I must say I have been feeling pretty self satisfied sitting in our bedroom with the nice wicker laundry baskets, funky lamps and lovely wedding photo that has been turned into a large canvas. A grown-up bedroom – yay! However, some sort of unspoken agreement occurred and when I gave Beloved his bottle of aftershave (Dirty English by Juicy Couture) He presented me with two books.

Of Bees and Mistby Erick Setiawan was awesome. I got it on Christmas morning. I had finished it by 11am the next day. And we did actually do things on Christmas day. This book had a real Gabriel Garcia Marquez ‘magic realism’ feel about it however it was much more accessible. I have read 100 Years of Solitude a couple of times and sometimes I am still left scratching my literature degree head. I also got a Gregory Maguire vibe, in that there was a real mix of our world and another, of the modern day and not so modern. Sometimes that idea annoys me but I liked this, because it made anything seem possible.

To give you a brief outline, Meridia was raised in a family where the great love between her parents grew inexplicably cold. Her mother cooks to forget and every day her father disappears into town, shrouded in a mist that envelopes the house. When she meets Daniel, her one true love, she is glad to escape into a family that is full of life. However this new family is not as it seems, with her mother-in-law Eva spreading lies and bending those around her to her will.

Eva is an antagonist of Sue Sylvester proportions. I would bet that if I were wearing a monitor you would see my blood pressure go up – every time she appears you want to smack her. However, Meridia is a more that capable adversary to Eva – beautiful, wily, honest and well loved. It was heart-wrenching when Eva meddled in her family. I feel like I am not explaining this very well – this is not just a family drama or chick lit – it is a well written saga with beautiful imagery, magic, symbolism, romance, horror, ghosts, revenge and mystery. Read it!

PS: My next review….I nearly couldn’t get through the second chapter of this book. What book is it and how will it fare?

Being Held Hostage

Published on December 27, 2009 in Beloved, Can't be bothered categorising, Cranky/Dopey Bitch, Depression and Queen Me. 10 Comments

We are held hostage by the chemical imbalance in her brain. The one that doesn’t let her think logically, the one that drowns her every day.

I wish I could say it is just the depression that makes her act this way, but I know it is not. She wants us to listen, not judge, give sympathy. We have to be the sponge to her negative emotions. No money, no job, crap relationship but refuses to take a step to fix any of these problems. If we were in any such similar position she would be disgusted at our weakness and lack of self respect.

Somehow through the poison, the idea that men are after only one thing, we have found loving husbands. We do have our hang-ups but we function. She leaves a man who loved her through the neglect, jealousy and depression (though I don’t claim he is blameless) and moves onto someone who doesn’t even like her.

She has no job. I offer one at my place of employment. Everyone loves her, thinks she is wonderful – and she is. She still rides the roller-coaster. Doesn’t turn up to work, doesn’t tell anyone and they ask me. I am embarrassed. She tells people of her darkness, of her attempts. They run to tell me, to save her. They are shocked at my indifference. My ‘Not again?’ When the job contract comes up for renewal, she doesn’t get it. She is devastated. I am angry and lioness like in my indignation for her. But secretly and ashamedly I understand why.

She is lonely. I invite her over. She cancels.

She has no money. We give her tickets to shows, to see something nice. She spends $400 on merchandise.

Two days before Christmas she is lonely. She is in danger and I go to her. She has already called somebody else over for help. I am angry. There are different ways to get attention.

She can’t live like this anymore. It is not a life. I can’t live like this anymore. But she gave me life.

I am held hostage only because I don’t walk away.

I Know, I Know – I Could Shop Elsewhere

Published on December 22, 2009 in Can't be bothered categorising, Fighting the Fat and Lazy Bitch. 6 Comments

I can’t quite figure out who is the biggest rip-off merchant: Harvey Norman (huge electrical and furniture chain) or Hewlett Packard. It seems that every couple of months I am running off to buy new ink cartridges for the printer when I really don’t use it all that much. I think I have spent twice the amount of the printer just on ink now, and I didn’t choose a particularly cheap printer.

So, today I found myself in the printer ink section of Harvey Norman and I see a black ink twin pack (say that one quickly after a couple of egg-nogs) declaring that it will save me money. I pick it up and read the price of $67.95. Just for a comparison on how much I will be delightedly saving, I pick up a single pack. $33.95.

Right.

So it is actually cheaper to buy TWO separate packs? Ridiculous. I know I can’t blame HP for this one necessarily, as Harvey Norman put their own price stickers on the items.

Damn you Harvey Norman – you should know better than to mess with a woman and her savings!

The Petrol Station Man

Published on December 17, 2009 in Can't be bothered categorising and Cranky/Dopey Bitch. 5 Comments

Do you know who made me happy on Saturday? The petrol station man. Because when I bought a 2 litre Coke Zero he made sure to tell me that I could get another one and it would $6 all up. He also rang the car wash I wanted through the register before I had even asked for it.

It really is the small things.

Better Stock up at the School Library Before the Hols!

Published on December 15, 2009 in Books n Stuff. 1 Comment

Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder was a lovely book that looks at some of the big ideas concerning life, death and being human. Cecilia is very sick and her family prepares her for her last Christmas. It is then that her angel, Ariel makes himself known to her. I found the story poignant and funny and I was strangely gladdened at the end. I found the next book I read to have a Louis Sachar feel to it, in that the character is very self deprecating and honest. The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey is a book about a boy who, through the greed of his uncle, is caught up in an ancient legend and the quest to keep the legend and it’s treasure secret. I really liked Alfred because he was a hero not because he was particularly smart, strong, handsome or had some latent powers but because he always wanted to do the right thing. Alis by Naomi Rich felt a bit like the Arthur Trilogy books in that they were simply told. Maybe a little bit Girl With a Pearl Earring too. Alis lives in a world that could be a mirror of Puritan England/America. She is to marry the local minister, even though he is an ‘old’ man. Trying to put off the inevitable she visits a friend in a neighbouring community. It is there that she meets Luke and her life is changed greatly before being put back on course, with tragic consequences. I liked this story because it was a love story with conflict and tragedy and no supernatural beings, yet it was still lovely and powerful. The book I finished today was a gentle, universal ‘lightbulb’ book. The Heaven Shop by Deborah Ellis is a about a girl in Malawi called Binti and her family. Binit is full of her own self importance because she is in a radio show and goes to a private school. Even so, her life is alien to a first world audience. Little do Binti and the reader realise, there is much more of an unknown world out there, when Binti becomes an AIDS orphan and has to redefine herself in the new circumstances she finds herself in. A beautiful and heartbreaking story that makes me want to get out there and make a difference.

Don’t Even Try it, Buddy!

Published on December 11, 2009 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Grumpy and Nursey Chick lined up for their movie tickets. They had decided on a Wednesday evening for their New Moon outing because they wanted to avoid as many rabidly hormonal teen girls as possible. Consequently, there was only one attendant selling tickets, and she was in the ‘La Premiere’ line (selling tickets for fancy, comfy seats where you get free popcorn and drinks. Tickets they weren’t buying.) And then her phone rang. While she answered it, another ticket bitch miraculously appeared and took his seat next to La Premiere lady.

‘Hi, can we please have three tickets to New Moon at 5:45′ they asked very politely. (Ex friend’s sis-in-law was joing them later)

‘Yeah, sure’ said he of the ticket wielding machine ‘but next time you have to line up in this line, not at the La Premiere line.’

‘But there was no-one else serving!’ said Nursey Chick

‘And that is where you get tickets from when there is no-one else serving’ jumped in Grumpy.

‘Yeah well. Next time you have to line up here’ said he, sullenly.

All the while, there was quite a line behind Grumpy and NC, but some people had gotten into Ticket Bitch’s line, so they in theory, would have been ‘next’. As they walked away muttering, not believing the power-trippiness of it all, Grumpy and NC wondered what kind of shreds Ticket Boy was going to be ripped in to when he served the people who were in the ‘right’ line, in front of the people who had been dutifully waiting in the ‘wrong’ line.

Wanker.

Thought for the Day

Published on December 9, 2009 in Can't be bothered categorising. 3 Comments

Are bloggers just the ‘reality TV’ version of ‘real’ writers?

P for Procrastinating

Published on December 7, 2009 in Books n Stuff and Lazy Bitch. 1 Comment

I lied when I said my next post was going to be about how a dude selling tickets at the cinema whizzed me and Nursey Chick off. That can be next. Currently I have three books that I need to get back to the library, so I better get them off my desk by doing my normal mini review thang. And oh yeah – I am supposed to be editing school reports for the maths department…..and well. You can imagine how much I want to get stuck into that job!

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is the second book in ‘The Mortal Instruments’ trilogy. When we last left Clary, Jace, Simon and co, Jace and Clary had found out they were brother and sister. In this book Simon finds that his time as a rat has given aftereffects that are certainly more than anyone bargained for, Clary’s powers are becoming apparent, Alec starts coming to his senses…a little and we meet Maia – a werewolf. I enjoyed the second book as more mysteries unfolded themselves but I just found myself wanting to rush to the next book.

It is a little embarrassing to mention that I finished the final instalment, all 512 pages, in about 4 hours. Now, I don’t think this spoiler is a spoiler but just in case – don’t read the next *hand on while I count em* 3 lines. SPOILER alert! If by 3/4s through the 2nd book you aren’t aware that Clary and Jace are NOT brother and sister that is sorta okay. By the time we meet the mysterious Sebastian in City of Glass if you really haven’t figured it out well, you need to revoke your reader’s licence. Even so, it still makes for a suitably torturous and angsty plot device. SPOILER over. I am guessing the at which I devoured the book speaks for how much I enjoyed it.

Following on with my fascination with all things supernatural at the mo, I read Evernight by Claudia Gray. This novel uses a very intersting plot device which I spose is okay – it adds drama/shock value but I felt it was more like cheating than actually being clever. Bianca is a student at the Creepy Evernight Academy where her parents work. She meets Lucas, who like herself, doesn’t quite seem to fit in. They embark upon a romance that is destined to end in death. Not bad. I don’t know if I will be rushing out to read the others in the series.

GPS? POS!

Published on December 6, 2009 in Beloved, Can't be bothered categorising, Cranky/Dopey Bitch, Lazy Bitch and Pop Culture. 5 Comments

I knew there would be a blog post in it when I decided to use Beloved’s GPS when I left to play Bowen guinea pig again for my Naturopathy student mate. I had been there once before so I sorta knew where I was going but I was keen to use the GPS.

I knew my anal retentive self couldn’t handle it when it told me in its voice with a European lilt:

‘At the roundabout take the 3rd exit’

I could SEE that it was taking me to Nicholson road but I am telling, ya – it was the freaking long way as far as I was concerned. After it corrected its course for my transgression (I taught Tiger that word) we were on our merry way and I got to my destination only slightly agitated. I don’t think the machine was much impressed either

On the way home I thought I would use it again. I was curious. If the route we took was the most efficient/shortest or whatever the hell it bases its decision on, would we then go home that way? One word. No. That is when I decided that Tom Tom and the petrol companies have got some sorta scam going on. Tom Tom takes us the weirdest way without being out and out ridiculous and the petrol companies rake in that extra lil bit of petrol consumed per car.

I am on to them!

PS: Next post – what happens when a cinema ticket seller tries to take on a high school teacher and a mental health nurse.