mysteries

On Sunday, I walked down to the Seattle Mystery Bookshop in Pioneer Square. I was looking for an out-of-print book by a particular author, and was willing to buy a book by another author, as well. I went in, turning off my cell phone as requested, and was awed by the sheer number of mystery novels they have. It's not a huge store, but it's not tiny either, and its shelves are packed. They have brand new editions and used ones, too. And if I ever kind of, sort of thought about trying to be up on all the big mystery authors and know them all, I have now officially given up on that idea. There are so many mystery authors out there, and they aren't all good, and even if they were, it's just too many. There are classic authors I have never heard of before. It's daunting. They didn't have the out-of-print book I was looking for, but I didn't ask about it, and so maybe they would help me find it. I bet they would. They (i.e., the man behind the counter) looked very helpful. Instead, I bought a new paperback copy of the next book in another series that I am reading.

And I felt guilty about it, because I already had about 23 books sitting at home, waiting to be read, plus the 82 books on my list at the library. And then there's my queue at Netflix, which will take me 4 years to get through at my current 2-DVDs-per-month speed, which has been too fast lately. And there's the DVDs I have on hold at the library, too. And the New Yorkers and National Geographics that I am behind on. And yeah, there's work, too! Keep forgetting that...

Right now I am reading "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" by Rebecca Wells, whom I actually saw with my own very two actual eyes in February, on this actual island. I thought, ooh, Rebecca Wells, I should read her book. So I am, years after the rest of the country read it. And I am ambivalent toward it so far (I'm about halfway through). The story is okay, but the writing is not that great, which just goes to show how hard it is to write well, and in particular how hard it is to tell a story well. There are moments of something like greatness, though. Just when I want to give up on the book, there is some passage that makes me feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, which I'm sure Wells would be thrilled to hear about. I don't particularly enjoy it, but I guess I'll keep reading. I will still have 23 books to read when I am finished with it, though, with the Laurie R. King novel I bought on Sunday. Her books and her writing I like. She has a nice blog, too, where I can go and read her writing any time I like. Cool.

I'm getting a cold. Bleh.

Motorcycle Diaries

I finally watched "The Motorcycle Diaries" this week, just finished it minutes ago. It's great. I liked it very much, and now I want to learn all about South America. The photography, the soundtrack, the acting, it was all excellent. And the scenery was fabulous. It makes me want to learn Spanish. I watched "Long Way Round" last year, which is also about two friends who take off on motorcycles on a long, long, long trip. LWR is a documentary, though, so you see Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman struggling through the Steppes of Asia for real, while TMD is a bona fide movie, and you get to see Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna pretend to be Che Guevara and Alberto Granado struggling across South America. But Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman had a photographer and a support team that they met up with occasionally, while Che Guevara and Alberto Granado had nothing of the sort, only one bike, and it kicked the bucket part-way through. Both films are about male friendships and adventure, and they are both really nice. Go watch them. Plus, if you like dark-headed men, then you've got Ewan MacGregor and Gael Garcia Bernal. If you like light-headed men, you've got Charley Boorman and Rodrigo de la Serna. You can't go wrong either way. If you like women, you might have a problem.

Virginia Tech

Is everyone in shock? It seems like the official, formal entities have responded to the shootings in Virginia - the president spoke, the Queen spoke, the flag is at half-staff, the same gruesome picture is on the front page of all the newspapers. But on a more personal level, people are avoiding this. They seem curious. They want to know about it - they read the newspaper over people's shoulder, spend lots of time on it online. But they don't talk about it. Two people mentioned it to me today (not counting my mother and sister, who emailed) - a friend who confessed to being obsessed with it (pretty healthy, I think), and my boss, who made a bad joke and then apologized, kinda. Everyone else avoided it, including me. The blogs avoid it, too, at least the ones I've looked at. I've been thinking about it a lot, so I figure that everyone else is, too, and that no one knows how to deal with it. Or maybe most people are like the folks on the ferry tonight - happy, cheerful, oblivious. Except for the lacrosse team, who talked and joked about it. They're teenage boys, that's how they deal with it. But the other ferry people kind of annoyed me. How can they be so cheerful? How can the people next to me happily talk about which colleges their daughter is looking at, and not even mention it, or at least be a little less cheerful for a second? Did they forget? Lucky them.

Most of us have been in the position of the people who were killed. We have lived in a dorm, we have gone to class, many have taught. This could have happened to any of us. When I was teaching, I had a quiet, loner-type student who had a military background and a short temper. I didn't have any trouble with him (much), but I know that the university authorities were worried about him. Would he just flip out someday? If so, what would he do? I never worried about him shooting down scores of people, but maybe I should have. I would worry about that now. We had a murder-suicide on the University of Washington campus a few weeks ago. Campuses are not secure at all. They can't be, unless we build walls around them and check absolutely everything that goes in. That sounds very medieval, and would not be a helpful solution, I think. A more realistic solution is making sure that no one is left to brood on their own to the point where they hate everybody, including themselves, and want to destroy everything. We have to stay connected to each other and to the human race. That's what prevents people from flipping the switch and becoming a murderer. It's one thing to tell yourself to be connected, but I don't know how to tell someone else to be connected. It's hard to force someone to participate in society if they don't want to. Do we have to worry about everyone who just wants to be left alone? If so, then the introverts of the world (and I think that described most of the people who read this blog) are in trouble. But there's a difference between being an introvert and being a murderous loner. So, psychology friends and family, please comment!

I almost forgot to say: my prayers go out to the family and friends of those who were killed, and to all the Virginia Tech community. Also to the family of the gunman.

blogs

At the top of the screen, just below the toolbar, there might be a link called "Next blog." If you click it, you will get to another blogger or blogspot blog. I guess they are chosen randomly. I've been looking through some of them, and some are interesting, most are boring, some are not pleasant, and many are in languages other than English, which is nice. Spanish, Swedish (I think), and Russian, so far. I don't recommend clicking on the link with your young or otherwise impressionable children sitting with you, because sometimes (not often) something hostile or offensive comes up. Maybe I should flag those for blogspot, and tell them about it. Hmm. I didn't do that, I just clicked on to the next blog. And cleared my history.

What is with all the peeps videos?

The Guilt

Tonight (right now) I am supposed to be singing in Carmina Burana with my choir and the Pacific Northwest Ballet, wonders that they all are. But instead I am home typing on my computer, because my back muscles have chosen this week to go all haywire, and so I can't stand for the 65 or 90 or whatever it is minutes the show lasts. And sitting down during the show is not an option. So I am here, and they are there. I sent Fred an email about it this morning, and tried calling his office, but got no answer and no response to the email. I hope he got it. I also sent it to Lisa, and she wrote back with sympathy and understanding, so that's nice. Tomorrow I hope to go. Tonight I'm going to make cookies. Assuming I can get down to the oven. Maybe it's not such a good idea.

Bob came, saw, and conquered

Bob was here today. He drove up and down the street, looking for my apartment, unable to find it because no one can find it. I feel that I am safe from potential stalkers, unless they follow me home. Unlikely. Anyway, I looked out the window and saw a large man in a red minivan driving slowly past my window, with a look of exasperation on his face. He drove by again (and about 20 middle-aged to elderly adults walked by - what was that about? 10:15 on a Wednesday morning?! The idea!). So I went outside and saw him parked where everyone parks after trying twice to locate my apartment, and we shared a chuckle about being lost, and he came and put my Nerka (that's my computer's name) back together, with a new power supply. He made sure everything worked, and then he left, taking the old power supply with him. Now that's service. He says that next time, I can call him before calling Dell, and maybe he will be able to help so I can avoid dealing with Dell. Isn't that nice? I like Bob.

But I still dislike Dell.

Then I went to work, where I got next to nothing done because my back muscles have chosen this week to spasm like it's there last chance ever to do so (I wish) (maybe - maybe not - there are unpleasant alternatives to both a long life with spasming back muscles and a long life with non-spasming back muscles), so I mostly sat in my chair in weird positions and thought longingly of the floor. Sometimes I just gave up and laid on the floor, which helped, but didn't quite do the job. If I knew what I did to start this all off, I promise I would never do it again. I hope it wasn't singing Carmina Burana 5 times last weekend, because I'm signed up to do it twice more this weekend. Wafna! (I'm behind the wheel, first row, just to the left of center in that picture. I think - that picture is from 2004, but it looks the same as last weekend.)

I took a personality test just now, the Jung & Enneagram Test, courtesy of my sister who has a knack for finding these things. I am INTP, 9, and sp/so/sx. I'll try posting my results here, see if it works:

INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Cool. Here's more:

Main type	Variant

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||| 40% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||| 43% Type 3 Image Awareness |||||| 26% Type 4 Sensitivity |||||||||| 40% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||| 50% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||| 46% Type 7 Adventurousness |||| 20% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||| 20% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||| 53% Your main type is 9 Your variant is self pres

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

I think I have been INTP before. But I read more about type 9, and that really does not sound like me. Not at all. So forget that.

Yay, my computer works!

Bob comes tomorrow

With any luck at all, or perhaps with a great deal of luck, Bob will come tomorrow and fix my computer. He is coming from Olympia, only about 2 hours away, and says that he comes up to Bainbridge quite a lot, because the Seattle tech guy (whose name I don't know, but whom I will call Stan) doesn't like to come to Bainbridge. He doesn't like to get on the ferry and be forced to take a half-hour or so off and stare at the water, maybe eat a burger or have some treats. He likes to stay in Seattle and play games. Or something. I don't know. If he's the Dell tech who went to my coworker's house, looked at the computer that he was there to fix (with the same part as mine, mind you), and just sighed heavily, then I am glad that Bob is coming and not Stan. But I am ticked off that it is taking a week and a half to fix my computer, when I bought the 24-hour service package! grr.

Okay, must end, because I'm not on my home computer and this is just wrong.

alternative power source

Whatever is true about Dell financial people and Dell management, the technical support people I have spoken to have been very kind and helpful. Well, kind, anyway. Keith and I spent about an hour yesterday afternoon playing with the innards of my computer, yanking things from the motherboard and trying to figure out what was wrong. It's the power source, thinks Keith. I think he may be right. So some tech person from Dell is coming to my apartment sometime in the hopefully new future, new power source in hand (the sun, perhaps?), and he or she will hook it up and put the innards of my computer back together. They are going to call me tomorrow to set it all up. We'll see. Of course, they don't come out on weekends, so I will have to take sick leave for this, which ain't grand. Still, there is hope, and now I know what the inside of a computer looks like. It's mostly air.

In other news, the low bass sound that I have been hearing at night, that sounds like a car stereo, or maybe an idling car, has been growing more prevalent. Now, I hear it outside my apartment as well as inside, and in the daytime as well as at night. It is more constant, too. I still cannot figure out what it is. I'm beginning to think (a) personal ghosts that ride around with me but are generally centered in my apartment, or (b) hufflelumps (sp??). I may be going insane, and this is just the first symptom.

Might get snow tonight! happy spring!