Write Again Soon

« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »

March 18, 2008

Books I Read While Falling Apart

New Total: 142

Eat, Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert
I was prepared to hate this book, having heard so many 20-something girls gush over its deep insight into love and loss and recovery. In fact, it sat on my bookshelf untouched for months before I slipped it into my carry-on on the way to Key West. Dear reader, I devoured it--seeing myself as that put-upon character, and sobbed my way through the India third (while sitting on the beach, no less), and had it wrapped up by the time I got back on the flight home two days later--feeling like the solution to my problems would be to stay in an Ashram for four months and then pick up a Brazilian lover in Indonesia. If it worked for her, I thought I had a fighting chance.

Self Storage: A Novel
by Gayle Brandeis
This book was the result of National Novel Writing Month, which I have tried to participate in (but never gotten past the second week of a horrid chick-lit autobiography). The author, in a nutshell "manages to weave Walt Whitman, 9/11, and secondhand goods into a provocative story about the nature of one's self and the intrinsically human need to find meaning in life." Although there were parts of me that totally identified with the ambivalent "going through the motions" main character, I thought that the book overall was just okay. Good for a beach read (assuming you like burqa'ed Afgani refugee stories), but not something that took me out of myself--which was what I was looking for.

The Testament of Gideon Mack
by James Robertson
I finished this "cleverly framed autobiography of a Scottish minister who confronts the devil" at 2 a.m. last night. Now here was a book that took me out of myself...and I loved every page of courtship, adultery, faith and faithlessness, near death experiences, and talks with Satan. It's a shame that more people didn't read this book, since I am dying to find out what other readers thought.

March 10, 2008

Silent Night

For the third time in 10 weeks I have lost my voice. Those of you who know me personally will realize what a tragic inconvenience this is, since my entire sense of self-worth revolves around an ability to vocally express my witty and incisive opinions. Keep your sarcasm to yourself, dear reader.

If I whisper very softly, I sound like a phone sex operator with a pack-a-day problem. Anything slightly louder than a murmur resembles a pubescent-boy with creaks and squeaks. Volumes approaching normal speaking tones result in total silence.

It begins to occur to me that this laryngitis is not happening at random intervals. Instead, I seem to be getting sick exactly on the weeks when I'm not traveling with the Big Idea. Leisure sickness, anyone?

Anyway, I'm back on the road on Tuesday—this time to New York for a client meeting and a conference and a concert. Between now and then, though, I'm spending an inordinate amount of time watching the first season of Magnum PI. Living in Guam as a kid, I had missed this show this first time around and now see it as my duty to the Gen X community to catch up.

Even though the high-waisted short-shorts do nothing for him, I see why Tom Selleck made girls drool...even if tonight I have to admire him in quiet desperation.

March 08, 2008

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

Despite the overwhelming urge to stay tucked under my duvet and avoid the world, I've been making a concerted effort to get out and about. My social skills are slipping, but thankfully fortune has intervened to find me a variety of activities to enjoy.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the 8th Annual Karaoke To The Death, an amusing-and-yet-highly-competitive night of bad singing with my friend Ms. Secret Blog, who was fresh back from a honeymoon with Her Boy. While I declined to sing in this year's competition, I did get hit on by a strange guy (I'm talking to you, Mr. Executive Detailer of the Treasury) who was being mauled by a cougar at the same time he was chatting me up. I kept his card (I refused to give him mine) so if there are any ladies out there who want a fun night, let me know and I'm happy to pass his contact information along.

Last weekend I spent time with old friends at a girls slumber party, in which three bad movies were viewed (Blue Crush, Waitress, and 10 Things I Hate About You), taco salad was eaten, Scrabble was played, and the latest we managed to stay up was 1:30 a.m. I can neither confirm nor deny that pillow fights in our panties took place, but I am not ashamed to say that the table full of alcoholic beverages remained largely untouched--as "Drunk Jen" decided to take a hiatus in order to ensure sobriety for her lunch date the next day.

Earlier this week I went to dinner with a friend-of-a-colleague-of-a-friend/colleague, which made for a very strange meeting. We totally hit it off (in a platonic-single-girl-friends way), but it took us a long time to figure out how exactly we were connected to each other. "Oh, so you went to school with C, who now works at X company, which just hired K, who I taught English with in Japan." Lucky for me, she is a social butterfly and has invited me to tag along with her friends to see a Swedish indie-pop band tonight, after which we will partake in Vietnamese food and then wrap up the night with salsa dancing. A veritable smorgasboard of culture, no?

Last night I was invited to an honest-to-god dinner party. Now, I've heard rumors about people who can pull together groups of disparate strangers and--with the help of a few bottles of wine and some paella--turn them all into new friends, but frankly I thought it was an urban myth. Not so! Even though I barely knew the couple throwing the party, I had a lovely time. Driving home afterwards, my cheeks ached with laughter and my bag bulged with new phone numbers. I stand in awe of the entire process.

But that's not all! Next week I'll be in New York for a conference, where I'm going to meet up with a friend of one of my Big Idea interns. Apparently, this girl runs her own Big Idea (although not related to *my* Big Idea) and so we should have plenty to talk about. Frankly, it will be nice to have dinner plans during one of my travel weeks--usually I just crawl into my pajamas and get room service--although considering what I'm paying for my hotel room in the financial district, I might be better off snacking on cheese and crackers. Or selling myself on the streets to make a little extra cash. Gotta pay the bills...

March 06, 2008

How I Know The Crazy Isn't Just In My Head

I've been having a bit of a hard time lately. There have even been moments when I thought I was crazy. But today confirmed that--at the very least--it's not just me. Apparently the whole world has gone insane.

Exhibit One: Britney Spears on the cover of The Atlantic.

It would almost be more comforting if I had experienced a psychotic break and am imagined the whole thing. At least we could contain that madness.