100 best

English-language novels since 1900....at least according to one list.
Ones I've read are in bold.


1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright

21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell

30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James (I'm reading this one)
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene

41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller

51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (this should be a LOT higher)
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy

61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell

71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster (should be higher than Passage to India)
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh

81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie

91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron (want to read, if I can find a copy)
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

Losing my breakfast

A letter in today's Dispatch almost made me do it.

Party on

From NRO: Earthquake Sarah

A taste:

Sarah Palin has done more than unify and electrify the base. She’s done something I would not have thought possible, were it not happening in front of my nose: Sarah Palin has stolen Barack Obama’s glamour. She’s stolen his excitement, robbed his electricity, burgled his charisma, purloined his star power, and taken his Hope and Change mantra, woven it into a cold-weather fashion accessory, and wrapped it around her neck.

A candidate who is young, funny, well-spoken, intelligent, charming, drop-dead gorgeous — and one of ours? Is this actually happening?

I have personally seen hundreds of crusty, old-school paleocons who despised McCain now saying “He finally listened to us.” By picking Palin — instead of Lieberman, who we all know he wanted — he has told conservatives that he gets it. They’re not holding their noses and voting any more. They want yard signs and bumper stickers — they can’t wait to vote GOP. And the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, folks: they are writing checks.

2 Sarah videos

First, Piper again, because you might have missed it below



And, the bio video, which was skipped last night but MAY be shown tonight

SARAH! (updated with linkage AND VIDEO!!!)

A few points from the speech:

--Wow. She rocked the house.

--My favorite part--the part about special needs kids and their families. I almost cried. How great was that?

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

--Watching her family was a hoot. When she was talking about Track you could almost hearing him thinking, "Geez, Mom!"

--Piper is my favorite campaign kid! Did you see her waving on the stage like mad? :) And when she held her brother, she did it with such ease, like "I hold babies all the time."

--Another cute thing she did? She was combing his hair with her fingers. Then she licked her hand and smoothed his hair so it was flat. I just loved that movement; totally natural, like she does this all the time.


--Bristol's boyfriend is quite handsome. ;-)

--I like Willow, too! She had on a great dress.

--Todd is, well, hot.

PS.: When the family came up onstage at the end and Todd handed her Trig, she said "There's my baby." So wonderful.

--She has incredible presence. She just seemed totally really and fun. I loved the part about putting the jet for sale on eBay.

Peggy and Palin

From the Lovely Peggy:

DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN

A Clear and Present Danger
To the American Left
September 3, 2008
St. Paul

Notes from the convention:

Drafts of John McCain's acceptance speech have been bopping around the inside of the campaign for at least a few days, and a question is whether or how much it will be changed to account for the hurricane in New Orleans and the Gulf coast. An early draft is said to have been direct to the point of rambunctious in drawing contrasts between the policies of Obama and McCain. "Lotta biography, lotta foreign policy, taking Obama straight on," said a GOP strategist Tuesday afternoon. The final draft may be different, softer.

Advice? By Thursday night rambunctious will be fine, and a relief. Great political parties must show compassion, but they don't want to wilt with the weight of it.

And: Wit, wit, wit. Humor. "A maid laughing is half taken," said a randy old Elizabethan poet. A voter laughing is half yours, and just received a line he can repeat next weekend over a beer at the barbecue or online at Starbucks. Here is a fact of American politics: If you make us laugh we spread your line for free.


I do not understand the absence of humor, that powerful weapon, that rhetorical cannon, in this year's campaign. There are a lot of things to say here but let me tell you the first I think of. America is a huge and lonely country. We are vast, stretch coast to coast, live in self-sufficient pods; modern culture tends us toward the atomic, the fractured and broken up. When two people meet, as they come to know each other as neighbors or colleagues, one of the great easers, one of the great ways of making a simple small human connection is: shared laughter. We are a political nation. We talk politics. So fill that area with humor: sly humor, teasing humor, humor that speaks a great truth or makes a sharp point.

Obama talked to the audience; he talked TO America. McCain should talk with the audience. He should keep in mind that if his audience is laughing and chanting, it will help him with his delivery. As they cheer he can smile, while checking his next line. I am told alternately that he has given up on the teleprompter and will go straight from text, and that he will use a teleprompter. I assume the latter is true. If it is it will be interesting to see if he has mastered it. That will tell us if he practiced the speech. That will tell us if he knows what this speech IS, which is one big fat brilliant opportunity. If he's reading from text, well, it is not true that this is impossible in the media age. People didn't use teleprompters until 30 years ago. But when McCain reads straight from text we tend to see a lot of the top of his head, with the soft white hair and the pink brow glistening under the lights. Which tends to accentuate his age. So how he does the speech is of more than academic interest.

Watch for this: How does McCain differentiate himself from President Bush – or distance himself from him -- in front of Bush's party?

***

The choice of Sarah Palin IS a Hail Mary pass, the pass the guy who thinks he has a good arm makes to the receiver he hopes is gifted.

Most Hail Mary passes don't work.

But when they do they're a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

***


Gut: The Sarah Palin choice is really going to work, or really not going to work. It's not going to be a little successful or a little not; it's not going to be a wash. She is either going to be magic or one of history's accidents. She is either going to be brilliant and groundbreaking, or will soon be the target of unattributed quotes by bitter staffers shifting blame in all the Making of the President 2008 books. Of which there should be plenty, as we've never had a year like this, with the fabulous freak of a campaign.

More immediately and seriously on Palin:

Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy.

She could become a transformative political presence.

So they are going to have to kill her, and kill her quick.

And it's going to be brutal. It's already getting there.

There are only two questions.

1. Can she take it?

Will she be rattled? Can she sail through high seas? Can she roll with most punches and deliver some jabs herself?

2. And while she's taking it, rolling with it and sailing through, can she put herself forward convincingly as serious enough, grounded enough, weighty enough that the American people can imagine her as vice president of the United States?

I suppose every candidate for vice president faces these questions to some degree, but because Palin is new, unknown, and a woman, it's all much more so.

***

I don't think the most powerful attack line will be, in the end, inexperience. Our nation appears to be in a cycle in which inexperience seems something of a lure. "He's fresh, he's new, he hasn't appalled me yet!" I don't think it's age. While Palin seems to me young, so does Obama. I freely concede this is a drawback of getting older: you keep upping your idea of what "old enough" is. But only because when you're 50 you know you're wiser and more seasoned than you were at 40, or should be.

America, even as it ages, loves youth and admires its strength.

I think the left will go hard on this: Fringe. Radical. What goes on in her church? Isn't she extreme? Does she really think God wants a pipeline? What does Sarah Barracuda really mean? They're going to try and make her strange, outré, oddball. And not in a good way.

In all this, and in its involvement in this week's ritual humiliation of a 17-year-old girl, the mainstream press may seriously overplay its hand, and court a backlash that impacts the election. More on that in a moment.

***

I'll tell you how powerful Mrs. Palin already is: she reignited the culture wars just by showing up. She scrambled the battle lines, too. The crustiest old Republican men are shouting "Sexism!" when she's slammed. Pro-woman Democrats are saying she must be a bad mother to be all ambitious with kids in the house. Great respect goes to Barack Obama not only for saying criticism of candidates' children is out of bounds in political campaigns, but for making it personal, and therefore believable. "My mother had me when she was eighteen…" That was the lovely sound of class in American politics.

***

Let me say of myself and almost everyone I know in the press, all the chattering classes and political strategists and inside dopesters of the Amtrak Acela Line: We live in a bubble and have around us bubble people. We are Bubbleheads. We know this and try to compensate for it by taking road trips through the continent -- we're on one now, in Minneapolis -- where we talk to normal people. But we soon forget the pithy, knowing thing the garage mechanic said in the diner, and anyway we weren't there long enough in the continent to KNOW, to absorb. We view through a prism of hyper-sophistication, and judge by the rules of Chevy Chase and Greenwich, of Cleveland Park and McLean, of Bronxville and Manhattan.

And again we know this, we know this is our limit, our lack.

But we also forget it.

And when you forget you're a Bubblehead you get in trouble, you misjudge things. For one thing, you assume evangelical Christians will be appalled and left agitated by the circumstances of Mrs. Palin's daughter. But modern American evangelicals are among the last people who'd judge her harshly. It is the left that is about to go crazy with Puritan judgments; it is the right that is about to show what mellow looks like. Religious conservatives know something's wrong with us, that man's a mess. They are not left dazed by the latest applications of this fact. "This just in – there's a lot of sinning going on out there" is not a headline they'd understand to be news.

So the media's going to wait for the Christian right to rise up and condemn Mrs. Palin, and they're not going to do it because it's not their way, and in any case her problems are their problems. Christians lived through the second half of the 20th century, and the first years of the 21st. They weren't immune from the culture, they just eventually broke from it, or came to hold themselves in some ways apart from it. I think the media will explain the lack of condemnation as "Republican loyalty" and "talking points." But that's not what it will be.

Another Bubblehead blind spot. I'm bumping into a lot of critics who do not buy the legitimacy of small town mayorship (Palin had two terms in Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000 or so) and executive as opposed to legislative experience. But executives, even of small towns, run something. There are 262 cities in this country with a population of 100,000 or more. But there are close to a hundred thousand small towns with ten thousand people or less. "You do the math," the conservative pollster Kellyanne Conway told me. "We are a nation of Wasillas, not Chicagos."

***

The mainstream media, which has been holding endless symposia here on the future of media in the 21st century, is in danger of missing a central fact of that future: If they appear, once again, as they have in the past, to be people not reporting the battle but engaged in the battle, if they allow themselves to be tagged by that old tag, which so tarnished them in the past, they will do more to imperil their own future than the Internet has.

This is true: fact is king. Information is king. Great reporting is what every honest person wants now, it's the one ironic thing we have less of in journalism than we need. But reporting that carries an agenda, that carries Bubblehead assumptions and puts them forth as obvious truths? Well, some people want that. But if I were doing a business model for broadsheets and broadcast networks I'd say: Fact and data are our product, we're putting everything into reporting, that's what we're selling, interpretation is the reader's job, and think pieces are for the edit page where we put the hardy, blabby hacks.

That was a long way of saying: Dig deep into Sarah Palin, get all you can, talk to everybody, get every vote, every quote, tell us of her career and life, she may be the next vice president. But don't play games. And leave her kid alone, bitch.

***

Final point. Palin's friends should be less immediately worried about what the Obama campaign will do to her than what the McCain campaign will do. This is a woman who's tough enough to work her way up and through, and to say yes to a historic opportunity, but she will know little of, or rather have little experience in, the mischief inherent in national Republican politics. She will be mobbed up in the McCain campaign by people who care first about McCain and second about themselves. (Or, let's be honest, often themselves first and then McCain.) Palin will never be higher than number three in their daily considerations. They won't have enough interest in protecting her, advancing her, helping her play to her strengths, helping her kick away from danger. And – there is no nice way to say this, even though at this point I shouldn't worry about nice – some of them are that worst sort of aide, dim and insensitive past or present lobbyists with high self-confidence. She'll be a thing to them; they'll see the smile and the chignon and the glasses and think she's Truvi from Steel Magnolias. They'll run right over her, not because they're strong but because they're stupid. The McCain campaign better get straight on this. He should step in, knock heads, scare his own people and get Palin the help and high-level staff all but the most seasoned vice presidential candidates require.

A meme

Just because...

Favorite room in the house: Bedroom
Guiltiest pleasure: Jeni’s Salty Caramel ice cream
Best Way to Cure Hiccups: Hold your breath
Jump in puddles or step over: Depends on my shoes
Secret talent: I don't think I have one
Desert Island DVD: Pride and Prejudice

Dream job as a child: Actress
Embarrassing crush: Colin Firth
Greatest DIY achievement: learning how to unclog drains and toilets
I have a phobia of: spiders, snakes, creepy crawly things in general
Favorite board game: Cranium
Favorite song to drive to: “Losing My Religion”, REM
Best thing to blow small change on: a book

Best smell of Autumn: burning leaves
I always forget to: take out the trash
Most romantic city: Paris
I’d love to go back to: the beach

Go Rich!

For today's Corner, about Trig Palin:

Trig Paxson Van Palin [Rich Lowry]
I meant to post this the other day (so please don’t take it as a response to Rick—in fact it might constitute pleading guilty as charged!), but I got sidetracked. I found the Palin event Friday incredibly moving. Partly because of Trig.

The sentimentalist in me would be willing to see anyone who is loving and unselfish enough to welcome a Down kid into their family elevated to high office.

When I was thinking of Trig, I was reminded of an encounter I had a couple of weeks ago on the Delta Shuttle from Washington to New York. It was a mostly empty plane, but I went all the back to the very emptiest part of the plane to spread out and enjoy he quiet. And there was a man sitting in the very back row who immediately piped up, "Hi. I'm Ian. Would you like to sit next to me?"

He was a guy with Down Syndrome, maybe in his twenties. I declined the offer, but we struck up a conversation. He was going to New York for a family celebration, including for his birthday. I told him I had a birthday coming up too and he lit up and came over to vigorously shake my hand in congratulations—more delighted by my birthday than his own.

When the plane began to fill up a woman and her daughter came all the way to the back with a huge bag. I began to wonder to myself if I should offer to help them with it, when Ian popped up, told them he'd get it, and lifted it up and shoved it in the overhead compartment. When two men came down the aisle with a box they weren't sure would fit overhead, he intervened and told them it would—"trust me"—and put it up for them.

He chatted amiably with his neighbors during the flight, and when we landed was up out of his seat first thing to help that woman get her bag down.

From this brief encounter, I dare say Ian is friendlier, better adjusted and more considerate than about half of the people on the streets of Manhattan or San Francisco on any given day. Yet most of those people are perfectly unperturbed by the elimination of babies with Down syndrome in the womb. To hell with them. God bless Sarah Palin for bringing Trig into the world, and may he shower those around him with as much sunshine as the gentleman I met on that flight.

Somebody's getting maaarried...

Just about to head off to a bridal shower (sort of) for my friends Andrea and Tom at Lindsay's on a sunshiny Sunday. I am bringing the cake.
If you've never made this cake, do yourself a favor and try it. It's one pot clean-up, tastes delicious and is so moist it lasts for days. It's really like super-cake.

I'm going to scream

if some political pundit mentions how Gov. Palin chose to give birth to a "challenged" child.
Aren't we all challenged, in some way? I'm mathematically challenged. Some people are musically challenged. Some people couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a baseball.
Can we please stop talking like this?

More on Sarah

(and her shoes) here.

Sarah Palin!

I absolutely love this pick! As I listened to her speak today I had goose bumps.
She's gorgeous, smart, and has fantastic stage presence. She's also a mother of 5, a former high school basketball player, a professional fisherman (woman?), was runner up in the Miss Alaska 1984 pageant, and was on the cover of Vogue.



above: from the Vogue article

Yeah, she's pretty awesome.

One of my favorite parts? She is adamantly, totally, pro-life.



Woot!

Duck Beaches

Live music!

So while I'm here, we're getting free food and a performance from the Reynoldsburg Community Band! That's actually pretty cool. :)

But I still want an MacBook like NOW.

Well, there was this...

The bright spot in my day: having my book question answered on Michael Dirda's weekly book chat at the WaPo:


Edith Wharton: Hi Michael, I'm trying to read all of Edith Wharton's novels, and I've gotten through most of the usual suspects (Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, Summer, Ethan Frome), but I am stuck on The Customs of the Country. I just really, really loathe the heroine, so much so that I can't get past it and enjoy the book itself. Have you read the book? Does it get better as it goes on? (I'm just past the wedding) Should I persevere?

Michael Dirda: I haven't read it, but I can this: If you want to read all of Wharton you'll have to persevere. Think of the pleasure you'll feel in just knowing you've read all her books. On the other hand, if you're not that married to completeness, I'd put it aside, go on to another book, and maybe come back to it later, if at all. I do believe in reading for pleasure--unless there are supervening reasons. (Is supervening the word I want? I believe my mind is going, like the body parts of M. Valdemar.)

Computer hatred

OK, until I either get 1) my DSL set up or 2) a computer that likes me ( I think Widget, the current model, is heading toward the big Mac cafe in the sky), blogging will be, at best, intermittent.

But anyway, here are some random things I've observed over the past few days:

1)Yesterday I saw the Lion King tour trucks pull up and unload at the Ohio Theater. Today dad and I passed the theater on our way to lunch and we saw them unloading the programs. Yes, I am excited! Tiff and I are going on the 16th, and we have awesome seats (thanks to the Ticket Guru!)

2) Yesterday sunny and gorgeous. Today--raining and sort of chilly, but then not chilly. Weird. But we need the rain.

3) I hate my internet right now. Did I mention that?

4) Making great progress on L&A. I will try to post more later, when I have real internet.

5) I promise to post the taco recipe--again, when I have internet at home (I'm currently using Panera's wi-fi)

6) I am trying to learn one of Bach's pieces from "The Little Notebook" well enough to play it for other people. So far it's going OK.

Market Day!

(No, not the fund raiser. A real market day!)

One of the side benefits to J&H was that I got up early on Saturdays, and thus, had like the entire day free, as opposed to waking up at 10 like I normally would. :) Since rehearsals usually let out around 11, I would stop by the North Market on the way home to pick up food for the week.

As long-time readers know, I love to cook. I am a foodie, all the way, and subscribe to several food magazines. One of the big topics not just there, but in the "Crunchy Con" lifestyle, is buying locally grown products. I always liked this idea, but I didn't know how feasible it was. At first, I switched to Trader Joe's (which I still love with all my heart). But their produce would say things like "grown in California", which isn't really "local." So after a bit more reading, I decided to try and go as local as possible. That meant places like the North Market.

Unlike a lot of farmer's markets, the NM is open year round, and what they have is what the farmers are growing. There is also Jeni's Ice Cream (which is heaven on a spoon), meat stands, fish stands, cheese, bread, many pastry stalls, and international foods (like Indian and Chinese). My "usual" visit, which is on Tuesdays after work, consists of getting produce at the Greener Grocer, and then heading to Jeni's for a pint. I'm on a Raspberry Yogurt kick now.

So today, I bought:
--One pound of heirloom tomatoes (one "Hillbilly", a reddish color, and one "lemon boy", which is (duh) light yellow).

--One pound red bell peppers--they just looked so delish. (They are being used in tonight's beef tacos.)

--One pound red grapes (for the lunches)

At Jeni's:
--One pint of raspberry yogurt

The nice thing about buying in season is that everything looks so good. The peppers are the bright red you see on a kindergarten color wheel. The heirloom tomatoes are just gorgeous and have such a snappy taste!

I normally only go once a week, unless I'm out of something that I desperately, desperately need. It's not far from my office so it's not that big of a trip. Saturdays are just wild, though, but that's when I can do a big shopping trip and get things like meat and bread, if I need them.

GREAT!

Today was my three year clinic exam, which means the whole shebang of tests:

--Vitamin levels, in addition to regular blood draw;
--Chest X-rays;
--CT scan of chest;
--Annual bone density scan;
--VQ scan (which involves breathing and injecting radioactive material into me so they can see how that stuff is diffused in my lungs and chest--very fun);
--annual social work assessment;
--annual dietician assessment, and
--the PFTs

Good stuff all around...
I lost 5 pounds from the beginning of the month! Woohoo!
My PFTs were at 64%. I don't think I've ever blown that high post-tx and if I have, it was a long time ago, as Dr. A commented when he saw the results. So yay!
And I got to see all the lovely CF team people, including Dr. M, whom I haven't seen in quite a while. I showed them the J&H pics and generally caught up. It was great.

So it was a super-good, if very long, day. ..

It's time

For more of this.

The Internet is really, really great...

*bonus points if you get the title reference!*

It's so great I can blog while I wait for tests at Children's...
Yes, today I'm getting an Upper GI series, which involves drinking Quick-flavored Barium and then taking lots of Xrays to watch the stuff move through my stomach and small intestines. But, as usual for me, my body doesn't want to cooperate so it's taking a lot longer than usual. I'm due for my next picture at 12:10.

The nice thing is, I get to see people that I haven't seen in a long time! Like Dr. G, my transplant surgeon.

I was in the cafeteria getting a bag of chips (I was told to eat soemthing, so that was my pick), when I saw him getting lunch. He is, hands down, one of my top 5 favorite people at Children's because he is so nice and so fun.

He gave me a hug and called me "beautiful" (yes, I know, I'm vain), which made me happy. :) We talked about his kids, my sibligns, life in general. I haven't seen him since my transplant surgery itself (you don't really see the surgeon, unless you need a more detailed biopsy, or another transplant (gulp!). I told him about the show over the summer and he asked me if I was playing my piano (he has a great memory, did I mention that?). Seeing him really made my day (he told me it made his week, so I'll take that.). I'm sure it's great for him to see his patients and know he did an awesome job (which I told him).

So that's what I'm doing...I'm in the family resource center, which the Columbus Blue Jacket Foundation funded. It's awesome--it has lockers, a workout room, a laundry room, food, and these great computers. :)

Books in Duck

Above: photos of Duck's Cottage:
1) The main section of the store
2) The lounge area; I love the "No laptops until 11 AM sign"
3) Me soaking up the joy

Duck's Cottage was one of the highlights of my vacation, after the beeach. A converted duck-hunting lodge, the small bookstore/ coffee klatch houses a wildly eclectic collection of best sellers (there was Twilight and Scott McClelland's What Happened), as well as plenty of books I had never heard of. These are the ones I quickly snapped up.

My purchases:
--Mediterranean Summer, about a chef's life onboard a private yacht (with recipes!)
--Lost on Planet China--a wonderful, engrossing, and hysterically funny exploration of that country.
--Four Seasons in Rome--a new father of twins wins a fellowship to write in Rome. This is his memoir of the experience, including JPII's funeral and B XVI's election!
--Choosing Happiness
--Duck: An Outer Banks Village
--The Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Outer Banks
--Little Heathens, a memoir about growing up during the Great Depression on an Iowa farm, which I loved.

As you can see, they are mostly travel books or memoirs, since this store had such a great selection. I also bought a hand-made journal by a Maryland artist. The store sells a variety of arts and crafts items from local artisans.

If you're ever in Duck, you must stop here. Or, check them out online.

And more!

Yet more at CPG.

I promise I'll have something new up here soon. :)

New posts!

Up at CPG

The theme: Abortion, Obama and Why Catholics Cannot Vote for him.

Back from Duck!

LOL Ducks in Duck...

Yes, I am back! In one piece! Huzzah!
But since it's LATE and I have to go to work tomorrow, know that I will post more in the days to come. Complete w/ pics.
Of, and of course, I found a great bookstore. I bought an obscene amount of books. This should surprise no one.

Blog hiatus?

I don't know if I'll have computer access in the OBX, so there may not be any blogging from the vacay site. But I will have full stories and a travel journal up when I get back! (Well, OK, probably in the days following my return.).

I am going to the state fair tonight w/ Andrea and Tom. I haven't been in years, so this should be a lot of fun!

Books and movies

Tiff just left and we have decided on Entertainment for the Masses--she picked out movies for us to watch on Vacay. I reserved veto power in the case of her picking a movie that was NOT "family" appropriate. (As in, can't watch with parents in the room, like Love Actually. For some reason I cannot watch that movie w/ my parents.)

So we have (and it's eclectic--really, I just let her pick!):

--Cold Mountain
--Enchanted
--Casino Royale
--Armaggedon
--The American President
--50 First Dates
--Juno
--Little Miss Sunshine
--Thank You For Smoking
--Shakespeare In Love
--Becoming Jane (OK, that was my contribution, LOL)
--Groundhog Day
--Spanglish

So yes, a HIGHLY eclectic list. LOL.
Tiff also took from the library The Secret Garden and Rebecca to read.

Packing!

For the beach has seriously commenced. In fact, short of packing shirts, I'm done. And there's a washer/dryer at the house, so I don't even need to pack a lot of extra--I'm sure we'll do at least one load of laundry. There's a BABY coming with us, for pete's sake.

The book dilemma just got bigger. I removed Flannery O'Connor and added A Tale of Two Cities. Yikes!

And a medical note--
Packing pills can be a huge pain. Most of the time, when I do car rides, I do plastic baggies for each day, since normal pill boxes are not, in any way, big enough for all my drugs.

But! Behold! I have found one that is!

The Container Store sells one that is not only dividable into AM and PM for each day, but also big enough for all my drugs! Huzzzah!!!!

I just finished loading it up, after a pre-trip Kroger run w/ Mom and Dad to get the extra drugs, and it is safely stowed away. The drugs I will need for Sat. and Sunday before we get to the house are in the baggies, because the box is only for a week, and we'll be gone 9 days (wow how cool is that?! I've never, ever, had 9 days on a trip. Woohoo!).

Beach packing

Mostly, it consists of...books.

Are any of you surprised?
In the prelim pile:

--Bleak House
--Crime and Punishment
--The Hours
--Girl With A Pearl Earring
--A Year of Pleasures
--Chocolat
--The Customs of the Country
--Flannery O'Connor's short stories

Any other suggestions? I'm also thinking about adding "The Condition" and "The Secret Lives of Bees", replacing...what?

Just so you know...

I re-read Breaking Dawn. :)

Home!

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig....

So I cleaned a bit, and finished Portrait of a Lady--I'd forgotten how much I like that ending. Also finished Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. Am now debating on reading The Last Lecture again or continuing my re-read of Breaking Dawn. Hmmmm. Decisions....

A new diet...sigh

First--happy news--I get to go home soon! Like, in a few hours! Yay!!!!

OK not happy news. Well, really not unhappy, but sort of a bummer.

apparently my cholesterol levels are high--like really high, even for me. Post-transplant, even if you're a baby, your cholesterol levels skyrocket. It's a side effect of all the drugs.

Well, mine are really high. So that necessitates a few changes:

--No more carbonated beverages. ARGH! What am I going to do without Diet Coke? I suppose I could just pretend I'm always in musicals prep, which would mean no Diet Coke anyway...and with the auditions I'm planning, that would be true.

--Also, like no caffeine in general, because that irritates GI organs. So Really my drink options now are: tea (decaf, of course, which I already drink), water, and...water. And any sort of juice I make that's low in sugar, because most drinks are just loaded with it. Seriously. Check the label sometime and you'll be amazed. Target makes a good no sugar lemonade that I like, however.

--So no fun drinks anymore. Oh well.

--The next thing--really really watching what goes ij my mouth. Very limited red meat (which I limit, anyway, since I'm not going to buy like a pound of meat for one person. It just doesn't make sense.) Chicken is good, and I can get individual portions of that. My awesome Jeni's ice cream is going to have to be severely rationed. I'd already given up most alfredo sauces, so that's good. And of course, portion sizes, which I'm good at in some cases, and not others (like, my chips and salsa...)

Like Dr. A said, it's really just a normal, healthy diet, but it's going to be hard to drop a lot of these things. Well, I thought it would be hard to drop the coke habit, too, but that went pretty easily, all things considered. And this does give me an excuse (not that I really needed one) to buy the awesome no-fat milk that's sold at the North Market! It's so, so good.

Coffee will be hard, because I seriously like it. Seriously. Sure, it will certainly save me money, but I'll have to figure out another breakfast drink now. I suppose I could go decaf? Hmmm. Will have to look into this.

If anyone has good food suggestions, please put them in the combox. I could use them!

But...I'm getting sprung! Huzzah!

Another great thing--ballet starts up again at the end of the month!

Still here....but!

OK so I'm still here, but hopefully I am getting sprung tomorrow. I'd really like to get sprung today, but we'll see what happens, since there are about 8 bazillion doctors we need to talk to in order to make that happen. But oh well.
Yesterday I had a few GI scans, and basically slept all day, which isn't a bad thing--except sleeping in hospitals sort of screws up your sense of time. You wake up and you can't remember what day it is. :)
I finished The Agony and the Ecstasy (which I was supposed to give Matt before he left for D.C., but oh well!) and will start The Man Who Was Thursday for one of my book clubs today.
The beach--still on, thank God! Also good that I pack early, unlike some people I Know. So all I really have to do is throw clothes in my suitcase because everything else is ready to go!
The dietician was in today, talking about what I eat, and I basically said I've given up eating, since between GI's new "no carbonation" mandate (which I hope and pray is short lived), the diabetes stuff, and general low-fat food looking, I'm just about ready to say ARGH! and eat all the cookies I can get my hands on. But that, apparently, isn't a good idea. So we're going to try to come up with a viable list when I come back for my normal, regularly scheduled appt. on the 25th.
Kathy also came in and we talked for awhile. Dad's not due for a fe wmore hours.
I think--hope, pray--that lunch is imminent. I really want some decent food.
At least I'm getting my caribou coffee fix--they sell the cold versions in the cafeteria!! :) :)

In Shangri-la...

Again!

Yes, friends, I'm back in CHildren's-- aka, The Resort, Shan-gri-la, whatever. Thankfully there is internet access in "The lounge", which is actually quite nice--it has games, a pin ball machine, movies, a wide-screen TV, a table and a vending machine. So not too bad. Obviously it also has a computer.

I went tot he ER on Saturday--by myself, for the first time ever, since my parents were on vacation and Tiffany was out of town, so I couldn't get ahold of her. I was having pain and cramps on my right side of the abdomen. So I had a CT scan with lovely contrast (think drinking rancid Hawaiian punch--gross), X-rays of my abdomen and lungs, a ton of blood work, etc. Then my port infiltrated, which meant the needle was disloged so fluid was going intot he skin around the port, leading to excess puffiness. So we de-accessed and tried 3 times to get a peripheral IV in, which finally happed in one of the veins on the back of my left wrist (Yeah, ouch). That lasted until about Sunday PM, then we accessed the port again because the swelling had gone down.

I'm on IV morphine and I was taking IV Zofran and Phernergan (ym fav!) so Sunday I was a bit out of it. But I was pain-free, at least. And today was pretty good, except for the massive pain bout at 6:30, which led to more IV morphine. Whether or not that will continue to be ordered, I'm not sure, but I hope so, because I hate the whole "let's try tylenol and see if it works, and if not then we'll call..." Usually I do OK, but this time I had a total meltdown--sobbing in my room. I think the nurse was convinced there was pain. :)

My parents came today once they got home from vacay. My brother was here last night, made an partment run for me to get the CI charger and a few other things, and then was back today. He has done a super job, and even channeled my dad by calling the nurses' station this morning (I hate it when they do that!). I was really impressed. He also bought me a SpongeBob Squarepants beanie baby from the gift shop. :)

Right now we're on the "evening" shift, with my nurse, Jackie, staying until 11. I really like her. :) It's mostly babies on the floor, with haert issues. I think I'm the only lung tx patient. Dr. Astor is out of town but should be back tomorrow, so I"ve been seeing Dr. Kirby, one of my favorite pulmonary fellows, and my GI doc Dr. Mousssa, who was in today.

The plan for tomorrow involves more blood tests and an Uppper GI scan. Some sort of "invasive" procedure hasn't been ruled out either; endoscopy, I think? Not sure. I'm not sure how the lungs look on the X-rays. I've been coughing more, but...

I'm also NPO, which is, as usual, killing me. I am chewing ORbit with a vengenance, and I can have liquids, but Dr. Moussa doesn't want me to have any caffeine, so that leaves me with Fuze Slenderize drinks (Which don't have a lot of sugar) and Caribou Coffee drinks so that I can get down the more powdery pills that otherwise would not go down.

Whew this is a long post--sorry! :) But hopefully things will resolve themselves. My white blood count was also up a bit. Not quite sure what that means, in context.

Oh, another thing--the CI. I've been telling everyone that they can take off their masks when they come in my room (this is kosher) so I can read their lips. And the nurses come down to my room when I hit the call button, since I can't usually hear them over the intercome.

I hope tonight is better than last night--hardly slept at all.

Oh, and, of course, Read Breaking Dawn! Very good, very long, and a satisfactory ending to the series. There were several times where I just went "WHAT?!" but it was good.

Here I'm reading The Agony and the Ecstasy and keeping a record of all the Italian words so I can expand my vocab. :)

Funny politics

From work today:

Me: Is (Boss) here today?
Co-worker: I don't know. Why don't you ask The Golden Child (another co-worker). He knows these things.
Me: Maybe we should just call him The One, a la Barack.
Co-worker: Yes, We Can.


(I'm in Barnes and Noble, surfing the net and generally hanging out for the next 4 1/2 hours untiL I can get my paws on Breaking Dawn. To which I will promptly go to the last page and see what happens. Make some sort of exclamation, either of pleasure or despair, then go home to find out HOW we got to the point of pleasure/despair.


The fact that I have a Parish Council retreat all day tomorrow--beginning at 7 a.m.--does not faze me from my Reading Plan.)

New Medical Adventures!

So.
Went to the GI doc yesterday, Dr. Moussa, at Children's GI Procedures clinic.
I hate that place. It gives me shivers every time I walk in, because it is the site of the ever-lovely pH probe testing!.

Anyway, she asked me a few basic questions, looked over my chart, and felt my abdomen.
Based on the results of last Monday's abdominal scan, it appears I have an enlarged liver.
This is caused by a bunch of things, but since I'm: 1) diabetic, 2) have high cholestrol due to transplant drugs and 3) am on steroids, this isn't reallya shocker.

It could mean several things--fatty liver, or something else. Who knows. So Dr. M ordered a liver panel, which, miracle of miracles, was drawn on the first stick in the outpatient lab. We'll get the results shortly, but I may end up (MAY being the key word) having a liver biopsy as a result of all this.

In the meantime, we're waiting for lab results, and an Upper GI scan, where you drink barium (fortunately Quick-flavored at Children's) and they scan your GI tract as it goes down, are in the works.

YAY!

Guess what today is?





Breaking Dawn! Breaking Dawn! Breaking Dawn!


Which means I'll be at Barnes and Noble tonight, and almost everyone there will be younger than me. Ha ha.

A thought...

while I was in the outpatient lab today, getting a liver series drawn (more on that later).

The tech had about 7 large vials lined up. I gulped. And my thought was,

"Do they have vampires in the lab today?"

Followed by...

"No. Edward's a vegetarian."

If you don't get that, then you haven't read this.

The costs of drugs

A lot of people complain about how much drugs cost in America--$400 a year, $4,000 a month, drugs that can cost $10,000 a year (like some immunosuppresants).

Do you know how much it costs to develop a drug, on average?

$802 million dollars.

Over 10-15 years.

That's a lot of money, and the drug companies pay for failures, over and over. Drugs just don't magically appear. They need years, even decades, of clinical research and testing trials. Only a scanty few make it through the rigorous FDA approval process.

How many scripts would it take to pay back the R&D investment? A whole lot. More than some drugs will ever see.

So the next time you complain about high drug prices, think about this--the reason we have the drugs at all is because some of that money goes back into R&D, to make new drugs to save lives.

Musical theater news....

Little House on the Prairie--the musical.
With Melissa Gilbert playing ma.

This sounds like a lot of fun to me. :)

"I'm Not a Hero"

I just look like one (kidding!)

That has been one of the strangest post-transplant experiences--people (some of them total strangers) coming up to me and saying "You're so brave", or variations of that theme. Or "you're a hero."

But really, I'm not. I wasn't.

Heroism, to me, implies some great feat of strength or daring, or something really impressive, like the firefighters who rushed into the burning Towers on 9/11 to save the workers trapped inside. That's heroic. That's putting your life before others for the greater good.

I didn't do that.

All I did was give my consent to lie down on an operating table for a few hours.

Transplant surgery has a different mind-set than other surgeries. Usually, if you want one, you're going to die without it. There's not a whole lot of risk inherent there--you will die without the surgery, for sure. You might die on the table. But you might die on the table getting an appendectomy. So really, the risks are in your favor. Without the surgery, you're dead. With it, you're giving yourself a shot.

The decision to get listed wasn't some big heroic thing. It was highly pragmatic. I wanted to live. My body was standing the way. So I had to ditch the trouble spots and move on. To do that, I needed to do this.

That's not heroic. That's just being logical.

And it doesn't make you especially brave, either, when your choices are "I will die" or "I might die." I'm going for the "might" part.

If you've read this blog since its inception, you know that it took me awhile to be convinced that I needed the surgery. For a long time, I felt fine--maybe not the best, but I was able to do everything I wanted. When that changed, so did my outlook.

But it doesn't make me heroic or brave or anything like that. It might demonstrate I was intelligent enough to go for it and not mess around vascillating between making the decision or not.

God gave me the cards that are my life. I played them. And to not play the hand to the fullest wouldn't go with me. So I did.


(btw, the title of this post is a song track title from the "Dark Knight" sound track.)

An Evening of Austen...

Or at least, part of it.
I will have pics up tomorrow, but my favorite part (besides beating Gary in Wise and Otherwise, a fantastic game!), was the piano entertainment.
Mrs. Dulmage is a piano teacher, and Tiff, Branden, Gary and I all play the piano.

A sampling:

ME:

The "Moonlight"
Bach's "Prelude in C" from the Well-Tempered Clavier
Handel's "Sarabande"
Part of "Song of India" and Beethoven's "Sonata Pathetique"
DeBussy "Claire de Lune" (part)
Some Erik Satie.

BRANDEN:
Mozart, "Fantasy in D-minor" (Also known as the "Schizophrenic Mozart")

TIFFANY:
--Another part of "Claire"
--Duet w/ Gary

GARY:
--Schubert, "Ave Maria"
--Duet with Tiffany
--The Schizo Mozart :)
--A Bach piece from the "Notebook" (Minuet)
--"Great Balls of Fire' ( :-D)


It was a lot of fun. I haven't played some of those pieces in years.

Party party!

So, the show pre-empted any sort of real party for my transplant, although the show in and of itself was one GIGANTIC party. :)

Tonight Tiff is throwing the "official" party at her abode.

Awesome times await, I am sure. And a cake that Tiffany might have baked. I'm not so sure about that. :-/

(Kidding, Tiffy....kidding...)

Satire about The One

This is, probably, THE BEST satire I have ever read (and yes, I have read "A Modest Proposal").

Rock on, Times writers!

My Twilight Obession Deepens...

My contribution to a WaPo chat:

Twilight-er: Anything from the Twilight interviews yesterday? I am dying for this movie to come out.

Jen Chaney: I blogged about this last night, so you can get many of the details there. I think some of the stars of the movie aren't totally prepared for all this mayhem and mania.
Robert Pattinson seemed like a decent guy. Cam Gigandet, who plays James, had trouble putting his sentences together. May have been nerves.Several of them seemed jittery during the panel in Hall H, too. The scene they showed from the movie was met with super-loud screams.Then again, so was that pivotal moment when Pattinson moved a strand of his hair...

I am dying for this to come out, as I stated above. :) Really, though, the books are incredible. Which means I should probably blog a little here about why the heck I read them.

As we all know, I read just about anything. When I go to my parents' I read Bryan's Sports Illustrated, Dad's Computer World, and whatever other mail is about, as well as my mom's cookbooks. I read anything.

Twilight, though, has had a twisted way into my Book Hall of Fame.

Like Harry Potter, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. This time, though, it wasn't lying about on the coffee table (like Sorcerer's Stone was--it was my little sister's copy).

I saw it on Facebook--all the Twilight Flair. Edward this, Edward that. And I started to wonder.

Then Breaking Dawn posters were everywhere; at BN, telling you to pre-order (which I have done), and all the other book stores I frequent.

The books were prominently displayed and, important for my book budget, in softcover (Except for Eclipse).

So I flipped through the first one. And I sort of liked it. I liked the classic novel references (Wuthering Heights, Most of Jane!, Romeo and Juliet (ok that's not a novel, whatever). The writing was engaging.

I bought it and New Moon, the sequel.

I DEVOURED them. Tiffany had the misfortune of coming over when I was in the middle of New Moon. We were watching a movie and I snuck into the bathroom to read more pages.

I was hooked.

The next day I went and bought Eclipse, which had the bonus of Chapter 1 from Breaking Dawn. It's divine. (Eclipse is my favorite in the series, thus far.)

These are great fiction books, for anyone--teens, adults, whatever--although, obviously, intended more for the females.

So I would recommend that, if you're looking for good fiction, to pick these up.

Some details:
NOTE: I am assuming you know the basic premises which is:

Bella has moved from Phoenix to Forks, WA, to live with her father, the town police chief. After
her life is saved by her mysterious lab partner, Edward Cullen, a relationship begins to develop between them that is fraught with danger for both.

If you don't know more than the above, I will probably give something away below. If you don't want to know more than the above, stop reading now, please.
Thank you.


A character primer:

(Isabella) Bella Swan--our 17 year old Heroine
Charlie Swan--her father, the police chief for the town of Forks, in Washington, where they live
Renee Swan--Bella's mother, lives in Arizona. Parents divorced when she was a kid. Re-married to a minor-league baseball player.
Jacob Black--a friend of Bella's who lives on a nearby Indian reservation
Billy--his dad, Charlie's friend.
Angela--one of Bella's friends at school.
Mike-- a classmate of Bella's who has a thing for her

THE CULLENS:
--Edward--Our Hero, Bella's love interest. Initially her Biology lab partner.
--Alice--his sister, Bella's best friend. Loves shopping and clothes.
--Jasper--another sibling
--Emmett--and another
--Rosalie--and another
--Dr. Carlisle Cullen--their adoptive father
--Esme Cullen--their adoptive mother
**NOTE: These relationships are a lot more complex (the Cullens), but you'll have to read the book. All of the Cullens are gorgeous.

OTHERS:
--Victoria--female vampire
--James--her S.O.
--Another member of their coven whose name I cannot remember at this moment.

If you want more, go here.

And, P.S.:
Another good book from the "recent reads" pile:
--The Condition, by Jennifer Haigh.

Popcorn: The Dark Knight

I'm not going to review The Dark Knight--you can get a million reviews everywhere.
But I will link to this, because it's a great piece.

And give a few of my impressions, or notes, as you will:

--It is TOTALLY evident that this movie was filmed in Chicago. If you've ever been there, you can identify landmarks
throughout the movie. Batman races underneath the L tracks in the Loop in the Bat Pod, etc.

--One of my favorite things? The Lyric Opera of Chicago banners that are visible in one chase scene.

--Who breaks up with Batman? More to the point, who breaks up with Christian Bale!?

--I loved the soundtrack so much that I went and bought it immediately after I saw it the first time.

--This is not a movie for little ones; however,it does NOT merit an "R" rating. There's no blood, there's no sex, I don't even know if there's swearing. There's certainly no hard-core swearing. But it's a dark movie (hence the, um, title?). So don't think that Little Johnny or Jane is going to be seeing fun superheroes a la The Incredibles.

--Trailers: I want to see Twilight!! (big shock, huh? For more on that, go here) The Robert DeNiro/Al Pacino movie looked pretty good, too.

--I think I like Chicago better than NYC when it comes to the sheer layout of the city.

--It benefits from being seen twice. The first time you really don't know where the movie is going, or even when it's supposed to end. The second time you have a sense of the pacing so you can enjoy it more. (At least I did, and so did others I've talked to who have seen it twice.)

--With the Joker gone (Heath Ledger, that is), I can't seem them putting another actor in the role, not after the Great Things
Heath did with it. So our Batman villian roster could read something like that: Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin...I'm sure I'm
missing others, too.

--Batman totally needs a love interest. A Batman movie without one is like a Bond movie without a Bond girl. It's just wrong.
Catwoman, perhaps?

--Was Vicki Vale in the comics?

--SPOILER: OK, you totally know that Lt. Gordon isn't really dead, because he becomes Commissioner Gordon. But still, you
get a little nervous about it.

--Heath Ledger looks cute in that red wig. :)

Update--prayers,. please

For Tricia.
She was diagnosed with lymphona a few months post-tx. The cancer rate in tx patients does tend to be higher, due to the fact that we are really messing with our immune systems (and another reason why Karen was--is!--so sunscreen-centric!). It's not uncommon.
She had one round of chemo, but that didn't do the trick. So now it's on to round two, which is nastier stuff.
Please pray that she gets better!

And with my own tx....on Monday the three year tests (some of them) begin. An ECHO with cardiology, a visit w/ my endocrinologist, Dr. Hardin, and a visit with the Pulm Rehab people!

Popcorns!

OK, Yes, I have seen The Dark Knight.
Yes, it is amazing.
But, I am going to see it again on Thursday, so I will do a write-up then. There are a few scenes I'd like to see again and, with the research I've been doing, I'd like to watch it again with my Enhanced Knowledge. :)

Last night, though, I watched Penelope on DVD. It was amazing! Definitely on my top 10 list of films.
The story is simple, but sweet--Penelope (Christina Ricci, Casper, Circle of Friends, The Ice Storm) is a rich heiress. She's looking for someone to marry. The problem? She was born with a pig snout, due to an old family curse, and the spell can only be lifted if "one of her own" falls in love with her. So that means blue-blooded types. Most of them get one look at Penelope, and run out the door (or jump out the window), terrified. One suitor, Edward, was so shaken that he went to the police to report her. In an effort to prove he's not crazy, he teams with an investigative reporter and bribes a down-on-his-luck blue-blood, Max (James McAvoy, Wanted, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Becoming Jane), to get a photo of Penelope.
One problem--Max sort of likes her.
So, what will happen?
It's a fantastic movie, and clocks in at 90 minutes, so it's good without being overly long. It is the sweetest movie I have seen in a long time, and perfect for families to watch together.

Yeah another meme!

This time from Margaret


Let's play.

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your significant other? Nonexistent
3. Your hair? Bunned :)
4. Your mother? Michele
5. Your father? Carmen
6. Your favorite thing? Books
7. Your dream last night? Strange
8. Your favorite drink? Diet Coke
9. Your dream/goal? Heaven
10. The room you’re in? Living room
11. Your church? Catholic
12. Your fear? Snakes
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. Where were you last night? Sleepy
15. What you’re not? Mathematical
16. Muffins?Lucky!!!
17. One of your wish list items? Piano
18. Where you grew up? OH
19. The last thing you did? Play
20. What are you wearing? Clothes
21. Your TV? Samsung
22. Your pets? None
23. Your computer?Widget the Imac
24. Your life? Happy
25. Your mood?Content
26. Missing someone? Yes
27. Your car? Civic
28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
29. Favorite store? Book
30. Your summer? Awesome
31. Like(love) someone? Yup
32. Your favorite color? Blue
33. Last time you laughed? Morning
34. Last time you cried? Forget
35. Who will re post this? Nutmeg?

!

A new meme

From Nutmeg

A is for age: 26

B is for burger of choice: The Banzai burger at Red Robin. Mmmm.

C is for car you drive: A 2002 (I think) Honda Civic EX coupe

D is for dog's name: Um, no dog.

E is for essential item you use everyday: my computer

F is for favorite TV show: Desperate Housewives

G is for favorite game: Board game--Monopoly or trivial pursuit. Sports game: Hockey, football, college basketball

H is for home state: O-H-....

I is for instruments you play: The piano. And Da Voice. :)

J is for favorite juice: Pomegranate

K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: Depends on what idiotic world-view op-ed I read... (I totally stole that from Meg)

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Einstein's bagels w/ Dad yesterday

M is for your favorite Muppet: MIss Piggy! Duh!

N is for number of piercings: 2--one in each ear.

O is for overnight hospital stays: HA. HA. Ha. Um, do we really want to do this? OK let me do a rough count.......at least 10. Probably more like in the 10-20 range. Is that like just overnights? Or 23 hour admits? Or more than a day? Who knows? Let's just stipulate that it's a LOT.

P is for people you were with today: NO ONE, so far, because my office was EMPTY and I was annoyed!

Q: is for what you do with your quiet time: Read, blog, take a bubble bath, cook, play my piano.

R is for your biggest regret: Got none.

S is for status: Happily single. (at least the 'happy' applies at this moment)

T is for time you woke up: 6:40 a.m.

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: I'm a House candidate! (The TV show) I can sing and dance at the same time. :) ha ha.

V is for vegetable you love: Asparagus with lemon.

W is for worst habit: hmmmm.......thinking about that one.

X is for x-rays you've had: See "hospital stays" above. I'm surprised I don't glow in the dark.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: M&Ms from the Machine at work. :)

Z is for zodiac sign: Aries (fire sign!)

Whew

OK so now that the show is like, really over...I am trying to dig out of the mess that is my apartment, since I sort of neglected it over the past, oh, month....
Hopefully I can make some progress!

So...more pictures!

It's Monday

without rehearsal.

I feel....unresolved. :(

It's Monday

without rehearsal.

I feel....unresolved. :(

THANK YOU!!!!

To all the people who came to see the show!
(in no particular order)

--Mom and Dad (who came twice)
--Bub and Mel
--Tiffany and her parents (Tiffy came TWICE!)
--Tom and Andrea
--Branden
--Gary
--Anne and Lindsay!
--Suellen
--Missy and Katie
--Rita and Hannah
--Steve and Sal
--Matt and Maggie
--Grandma and Pa
--Aaron, Richelle and Christine

Can I call y'all my fan club???? ha ha.
I love you guys!

Roses

I have thirty-six roses in my apartment right now. :) :) :)

In My Bag

Inventory of my J&H bag:

--two pairs of Simply Vera fishnet tights
--One Target tank top
--One pr. Capezio character shoes, size 8
--One black ribbon
--A baggie of hair claws
--Aussie hairspray
--My camera
--Vera Bradley bag for my make-up brushes
--a mirror
--a small Goody brush
--Dove hair cream
--2 water bottles
--My make-up kit, which includes: Clinique concealer, Bobbi Brown moisturizing compact foundation, Bobbi Brown pressed powder (pale yellow), Maybellne expert eyes eyebrow pencil (blonde), Maybellne eyebrow gel (clear), Lancome eye shadow base (nude), Bobbi Brown eye shadows (Bone, Rose Gold and Sapphire), Cover Girl Lash Blast mascara (black), Lancome lip pencil (red apple), Lancome lipstick (Midnight something or other--a dark red), Victoria's Secret beauty gloss, Benefit Miss Popularity highlighter (for under my brows), Benefit Boo Boo Zap! (in case any unfortunate things pop up on my face).
--Benefit body balm

MAJOR props to the lip color. If you ever need stuff that will last 4+ hours, this is what you want. It is awesome. :)

Now it's time to haul the bag into Lilo (my car) and go do it all again!!!! :)

The Best Night

Tonight was, without a doubt, the best night of my life.

Not only was the show amazing--from beginning to end, top to bottom, we rocked the house. It was seamless and heart-wrenching and funny and excruciating all at the same time. It flew by. The energy was unbelievable. (And the Red Rat scene was SO FUN!)

But what made it the best night ever was what happened after.

I did a lightening-fast change and went out to the cafeteria to meet my family. It was like a constant wave of people I have known throughout my life, from start to finish.

First was my brother and my grandparents. My grandparents taught me to play the piano. They have come to a vast majority of my events, from talent shows to requiems to musicals. They have given me incredible support and love. And my brother is just, well, awesome. :)
Then my parents. God knows how much I owe them. :-D
Then Richelle, Aaron and Christine, from college and political work. CPAC adventures!

Then Tiffany and both her parents. The Dulmage house has been like my second home for a long time, and I was thrilled to see them.
Then Anne and Lindsay, from elementary school! I haven't seen Anne is YEARS and almost didn't recognize her. She's getting married. It was insane!I couldn't believe Lindsay came, since she usually has to work. We all used to sing together back in the day.

Then Suellen, who I also have not seen in donkey's years. We have been theater buffs since Time Began.

Then Maggie and Matt from the office--I guess I owe Matt $15 now. :) Matt teases me endlessly, everyday. :) And Maggie is a great boss. :)

It was like one big awesome reunion of People From My Life.

And the best part?
I was here for it.
Thank you, Suzanne.

Opening....

In less than four hours.
The show runs 2 1/2 hours with intermission.
You know you want to be there. :)

Three years

Wow.
Check out that title again, huh?
Three years ago, I was flat on some operating table in the bowels of children's, not sitting here prepping for Opening Night of an awesome show.
And yet, without that day on the operating table, I wouldn't be here. That's for sure.
I was talking to my dad on Thursday and he said that the Saturday before transplant was probably the "worst day." I didn't leave the couch all day, except to try to eat something (which didn't go very well). He had to drag me to Easton the next day (and my dad HATES shopping. Absolutely hates it.). And I do mean drag.
Every day I drive by Children's on my way to work, and last night I drove by after rehearsal. It was about 11 or so, and three years ago Karen was calling us, giving us updates, telling us what to do. I blew the building a kiss as I drove by. I owe the people inside so much.
Three years. Wow.
I'm twenty-six now. I have been to Chicago, New York. I have seen my friends get married and have babies. I saw my brother graduate from college and my sister from high school. I've made new friends and met some awesome people. I have done things I thought I would never get to do. And all because Suzanne in Minnesota decided to donate her organs after she died.
I thank her.
My family and friends thank her.
It seems so inadequate, but it's all I can say. That, and live my life the absolute best I can.
When I mount the stage tonight, it will all be because of her.
Thank you.

Precisely three years ago...

Karen had just called us to tell us to come down to Children's.

Amazing.

OPENING NIGHT!

"Opening night...it's Opening night!
--The Producers

There's no business like show business
Like no business I know.
Everything about it is appealing
Everything the traffic will allow.
No where can you get that happy feeling
When you are stealing that extra bow.
There's no people like show people
They smile when they are low.
Yesterday they told you you would not go far
That night you open, and there you are.
Next day on your dressing room, they've hung a star!
Let's go on with the show!
--Annie, Get Your Gun

Henslowe: The show must, you know...
Shakespeare: Go on!
--Shakespeare In Love

More news!

Tale of good and evil takes Hilliard stage this weekend


By KEVIN CORVO

Published: Wednesday, July 9, 2008 2:08 PM EDT
The diabolical tale of the dual personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde provide the script for the Hilliard Arts Council's summer musical.

Jekyll and Hyde will be performed Friday through Sunday, July 11-13, at the Performing Arts Center at Hilliard Davidson High School, 5100 Davidson Road.

It is the first time the community theater troupe has tackled the dark subject matter contained in the musical based on the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886, said director Robin Brenneman.

"It's very challenging, but (my husband) and I love the music," she said. "After The King and I, which is a wholesome story, we decided to do something a little edgier."

The Stevenson classic tells the story of a brilliant English physician whose father died from a mental illness. Convinced that a cure for mental illness lay in the separation of man's evil nature from his good nature, the doctor's experimentation unleashes his own murderous alter ego, Mr. Hyde, who induces panic and fear on the streets of 19th-century London.

"People who know the play love it," Brenneman said. "It is enormously popular in the theater community."

Brenneman said she and her husband, Ken, the musical director, broke a rule of thumb when selecting Jekyll and Hyde, as they had no idea who would play the lead role.

"Usually, you have an idea who you envision in the lead role," she said.

More than 70 people responded to a casting call for all the roles, and 25-year-old David Hammond of Gahanna was offered the complex lead role. It is his first production with the Hilliard Arts Council.

A native of Mansfield, Hammond came to Columbus to finish his senior year at Ohio State University.

Previously, he performed theater as an underclassman at Ohio State's Mansfield campus. He also has experience with Renaissance Theater and the Mansfield Playhouse.

The musical is "definitely a cautionary tale," said Hammond.

"(Jekyll) is trying to separate good from evil and prevent pain ... but in trying to do so, makes things even worse," he said.

One side of Dr. Jekyll's personality wants to save lives, but the other side is "sheer evil, greed and lust," Hammond said.

In a supporting role is 2005 Hilliard Davidson High School graduate Diana Zambrotta as Lucy, a "lady of the evening" whom both Jekyll and Hyde fancy.

"She is a prostitute, but doesn't want to be where she is and is fighting to move up," said Zambrotta, 20, a student at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, where she studies theater.

She has performed at the college and for the off-Broadway York Theater.

Zambrotta is home for the summer and available to participate in her fourth Hilliard Arts Council production. She most recently appeared in the cast of Evita.

Detroit native and Dublin resident Brooke Andres, 25, plays Emma, the fiancee of Dr. Jekyll.

"She is a very strong woman and even though he shuts her out, she stays by his side," said Andres.

Jekyll and Hyde is the first Hilliard Arts Council production for Andres, who learned about the opportunity while assisting her mother in The Pleasure Guild's performance of Annie at the Palace Theater.

Andres performs "Once Upon a Dream" and duets with Zambrotta on "In His Eyes," which are among the musical numbers in the lush, romantic pop score composed by Frank Wildhorn. Leslie Bricusse wrote the book and lyrics for Jekyll and Hyde.

Other supporting cast members in Jekyll and Hyde are Kurt Zielenbach of Hilliard as Sir Danvers, Emma's father; Kevin Doll of Upper Arlington as Jekyll's best friend, Utterson; and Jeff Meyers of Hilliard as Stride, Jekyll's rival for Emma's affections.

Scott Jones is the choreographer and Diana Vance is the technical director and set designer. Jan Woods and Sheila Hively are costume designers.

Jekyll and Hyde will be presented at 8 p.m. July 11 and 12, and at 3 p.m. July 13.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for senior citizens and students.

For further information, call 614-527-4407 or visit hillardartscouncil.org.

We also got a blurb in the Dispatch weekender!

First dress, also known as Prank Night

So last night was the first dress. This, apparently, means a few things:

--it will be the sweatiest, hottest rehearsal ever.
--It will be prank night: Chris will make up new words to "This Is The Moment" while David is onstage; Kevin will wear a cowboy hat in "Your Work and Nothing More", and the guys will sing "In His Thighs" while Brooke and Diana stand on the stage and mouth the words. Oh my. :)
--My skirt has to contain about 5 yards of fabric. I could loop it around my neck (as Laurie suggests to Meg in Little Women) and still have my legs suitably covered.
--I get to help Jaylene with David and Kevin's costume change after Board of Governors!
--The blouse buttons do not like to line up. At all.
--I only have one quick change--it's between "Bring on the Men" and "Alive!", when I go from Call Girl (wearing like nothing) to fully-dressed Victorian (see below). It's not too, too bad, but it's not like i have half an act to change like the rest of the ladies.
--We rehearsed the curtain call. I am on the scaffolding, the center piece, so you can find me fast. :-D
--There were the normal issues with costumes--getting everyone in them, changing them, etc. that make it a bit of a rough show. Notes were pretty quick. I am DESPERATELY glad that I am taking tomorrow off so I can sleep!
--Call tonight is at 6:00--costumes and make-up.
--Fortunately my hair is cooperative--I have it up (see below) for most the show, but I wear it sort of pulled back, with some of it down, for the Red Rat. That's a lot of fun. :)
--We are a pretty fun group of kids. :)

This has been such a wonderful experience--and tomorrow--WE OPEN!!!!!!!!!

Pictures!

Yes, it is late.
Yes, I have to go to bed.
But, I wanted to give you some pics from the first Dress Rehearsal...

PROGRESS!!!!

I am home at 11:15!!

More notes tomorrow, but to sum up----50000% better than Monday. :)

Full Tech I

OK, so notes here before I go do this again!

--I got home at 11:50. I am amazed I didn't fall asleep at work. Whew.

--"Your Work--and Nothing More" gave me goosebumps. The quartet knocked it out of the park, especially Kevin (Utterson) and Brooke (Emma).

--"This is the moment" was awesome--until David forgot the words! Ha ha. But it happens, and he was really grooving until that point.

--"Facade" was great. Now I have to figure out how to get OFF the scaffolding in the pitch dark!

--Still extra orchestra vamping on parts of "Murder", but I think we have it. I hope we have it. It's very weird to be standing there, full lights and all, with no music for you, just underscore. :)

--The words to "Murder!" are here!

--During "It's a Dangerous Game", David dropped his top hat, which rolled down Diana's arm and bounced across the stage. We all burst out laughing. Ken had to stop the orchestra and Diana really had to get herself under control. It was really funny, like something out of vaudeville, and not a seduction. :-D

--The thunder effects are hit or miss in "Murder" but they are awesome anyway. :-D

--Set changes, etc. went very smoothly.

--While I was watching Act II (I get a much bigger break in Act II than in Act I), I was thinking how lucky I am to be sitting there, with a great cast, watching awesome performers. It was a great feeling.

--David had to die about four times last night. Poor guy. He and Kevin finally worked out a good angle/blocking for his death, so that it doesn't look odd and that Brooke is in the right position to catch his head. Poor Jeff, who plays Stride, had to get knocked about an awful lot last night.

--We have fog in the "murder" scene to represent steam from the trains in King's Cross. It's pretty cool.

--The prop gun leaves white powder on the stage.

--Tonight the leads have the option of being in costume. I hope a lot of them take it because I want to see them!

--The Bring of the Men dance looked really good. :)

--The lights turn red whenever someone is murdered. Very nice.

--Make-up: lots of earth tones since they didn't have baby blue shadow in the 1880s. I wonder what Robin will say about some of the multiple piercings? :)

--In "Alive!" a bunch of us have to act like we're cold and gathered around a fire. The amusing thing is we will be hot--we are in long skirts, long-sleeved shirtwaists, and will have shawls. Yikes.

Off to rehearsal--again!

Tonight!

The first run through with EVERYTHING (but costumes).
I may have a few notes if I don't get home too late.
Woohoo!!!