Ever since losing my job as a civil servant two months ago, I have been feeling busier than ever.  Perhaps it is all of the extra time spent looking for employment, or the extra volunteer work I’m doing.  (I volunteer at my son’s school in the library and with a non-profit that helps sick and dying children.)  I thought it would be interesting for myself (and hopefully you) if I laid out my last twenty-four hours to prove whether or not I am really busier. 

• 11 pm - Uploaded soundtrack songs to my iTunes.
• Midnight – More of the same, and had a ball doing it, too.
• 1 am – Read personal emails, and a few of my blog emails, too.  Almost blogged.
• 2 am – Read most of book Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife.
• 3 am – Watched Erin Brockovich, and still loved it!
• 4 am – Googled lead poisoning & environmental toxins after hearing another person from high school died from my toxic hometown.  Around forty of my classmates have died, and many more of our parents have died as well.  Very crazy, and it made me a little crazy thinking about it, too.  RIP Steve.
• 5 am – Slept.
• 6 am – Slept.
• 7 am – Slept.
• 8 am – Slept.
• 9 am – Slept.
• 10 am – Slept.
• 11 am – Slept.  I slept for the past three days and it has been fantastic!
• Noon – Finished Christmas shopping this lovely Cyber Monday.  Got a year subscription to EW Magazine for 95% off, just $10.  I’m in HEAVEN.
• 1 pm – Read and responded to more personal and blog emails.
• 2 pm - Job search.  Didn’t even find a single job I could apply to.
• 3 pm – Wrote and published blog post.  Went on Facebook for two minutes and got into trouble for forgetting to return my friend E’s call from Friday.  Sorry girl!
• 4 pm – Showered, made dinner and hubby’s lunch. 
• 5 pm – Ate dinner, visited and chatted with hubby.
• 6 pm – Photo editing.  I have an entire year’s worth of photos to upload and print, and I’m almost done.
• 7 pm – Went to The Big Bright Light Show.  Got annoyed at all the slow people, but enjoyed my free piece of wedding cake.  Found a used book store and took shelter.
• 8 pm – Found a first edition Augusten Burroughs book in pristine conditions.  Left and then later came back for it.  I had seen the same book online for over $100, and you’d be amazed to hear I got it for under $14.  I am so geeked right now.  god, how I wish I was employed.  Came home, ate brownie, teased hubby, and caught the end of House.  Poor Wilson …
• 9 pm - Watched Gossip Girl and caught up on blog comments and emails.  I hate seeing holiday shows after the holiday has past … why didn’t they run it last Monday?  So annoyed, this episode bugged me.  So sick of the Tripp story line. 
• 10 pm – Caught up on the last forty-five minutes of House, and was shocked to find out that you can catch Transverse Myelitis from a cold sore.  WTF?  My friend has this rare disease and she has been paralyzed from the chest down for several years now.  I also wrote this blog post during this time.  Afterwards I’ll catch up on reading blogs.

So, my obvious question, does it sound like I’m busier than ever?  I think so … but what do you think?  What have you done in the past 24 hours?

This is a photograph of the actual wall built to separate the blacks from whites. It is located in the Eight Mile/Wyoming neighborhood, and it separates the blacks of Detroit from the whites of the surrounding suburbs. The wall runs between Mendota and Birwood Streets from Eight Mile to Pembroke.

The Way I Am by Eminem was a very interesting book, and it wasn’t only because we both grew up near the now-famous 8 Mile.    I enjoyed it because it was the story of a person who always had a rough life, who never had a break, and who fought hard to make his own dreams come true.  The Way I Am is the perfect modern-day white trash Cinderella story, and having grown up near the same area as Eminem makes it just that much better for me. 

Marshall Bruce Mathers III aka Eminem aka Slim Shady was a success straight out of the gate; I can remember listening to his music with awe back when MTV still played videos.  I was fascinated by him, and I think so was everyone else, too.  Well, my 70-year-old Italian godfather even likes Eminem and we had quite the family conversation about Eminem’s talent at my grandmother’s funeral a few years back.  Rolling Stone has dubbed Eminem “the biggest rapper in history” and I agree with them wholeheartedly.  No other rapper I have ever listened to can move me with his lyrics the way Eminem does.

Back to the autobiography – I loved the way Eminem used both his images and his words on every page of this autobiography to tell his story, because I feel Eminem’s life story is as much about his image as it is about his words and experiences.  I have the paperback version of this book and it reminds me of a really cool and modern high school yearbook.  There are so many images of original lyric sheets, personal polaroids, and images from concerts and events that were a part of Eminem’s road to success.  For a moment there I thought I saw myself in one of the concert photos as I had seen Eminem at his show of all shows, the July 2003 appearance at Ford Field in Detroit along with D12, Obie Trice and the fabulous 50 Cent.  Loved that show, it was general admission, and I was within an arms reach of 50 Cent.

Just take a look at the Eminem back in his glory days, with that wonderful dirtbag sex appeal he had.  That bleach blonde hair, that black wife beater, and that attitude you can see from a mile away. 

You all remember the crazy relationship he had with Kim – here they are at their first wedding.

And their short-spanned 2006 second marriage. 

Not only does the book tell a little more about Eminem’s relationship with Kim, Eminem talks about his own childhood, as well as his life as a parent to all three of Kim’s daughters as well.  I was excited to learn more about his relationship with Kim since it was so famously dysfunctional.  I’d see Kim and his daughter around town from time to time and wonder what it must be like to be them, having people stare at them and bother them constantly.  My friend saw them at Outback once and seriously people came up to the table every five minutes.  I know how I want peace when I eat a steak, and can’t imagine how invasive that must have been.  I felt bad because Kim came into my work once and their daughter Hailie was around eight years old, and had the bitchiest look I’ve ever seen on a child’s face, probably because she could tell all of my co-workers were staring at her and her mom.  So sad.  

I love Eminem because he is talented, raw, and emotional.  A rare quality you see in our current world of musicians. This book is true to his voice, and it was quite interesting to read about his story to fame, and his subsequent troubles with the law, Kim, and everyone else.  Any fan of Eminem’s would love this book, and I’m thinking any fan of the underdog would love it as well.  Go buy it, and you can get the paperback copy for under $16 today.  It is so worth it.

 

To visit Eminem’s website, go here. 

To purchase his book The Way I Am on Cyber Monday, go here.

My favorite “fun” Eminem song which always reminds me of my trip to Puerto Rico.

And my all time favorite Eminem song, which always takes my breath away.

Another reason to buy this book: I also enjoyed learning new things about Eminem, such as he worked at Little Caesars with Proof and that Eminem used to design and paint hip hop clothing with puffy paint.  The kid had a lot of ambition.  But, my favorite thing to read in this book was that the director of 8 Mile tells people that he came up with the name of the movie, which Eminem disputes and says that he came up with it himself, which I know must be true. 

No one outside of Detroit understands the term 8 Mile like we do, so I’m going to include a mini history lesson here as well.   

 

I never even knew this wall existed until just a few years ago, and I feel foolish even admitting it, but I wonder how many people in this area have also never heard of it.  Here is a mini history of the wall:  Black residents of Detroit moved into the vacant area near Eight Mile and Wyoming after WWII.  It was a rural area at the time.  In 1940, a developer sought to build homes for middle-income whites in a nearby area.  Sadly, the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) policies of that era didn’t allow them to approve home loans in racially mixed areas.  So, to secure FHA approval, the developer put up a wall six feet high, one foot in width and one-half mile in length to clearly separte the white and black areas.  His wall led FHA to approve loans for his project.  I can not believe that this wall still exists, and that I never learned about it until I was in college, even though I lived right by it for many years!

8 Mile today still stretches 27 miles and is lined with strip malls and strip clubs.  The first one I ever saw was called The Booby Trap, and my mom took me by it when I was like 8 years old.  She was giving me a history lesson in her own dysfunctional way I suppose.

The latest SpongeBob DVD Truth or Square arrived in the mail a few days ago and I was happy to watch it with my family this weekend.  We all loved it, as we are all huge fans of the show.  I love SpongeBob; he’s goofy and a silly soul who just loves to have fun.  After watching the Truth or Square DVD, I’d recommend this to anyone who is in need of a great DVD this holiday season.  Don’t forget Black Friday is this weekend …

I think the episode that got the most laughs in our house was Truth or Square, the extended version.   Not only did it have a gazillion celebrities in it, including Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Triumph the Comic Dog, Robin Williams, and Pink singing her heart out about having scurvy, but it had SpongeBob’s first Krabby Patty experience, when he was in his mother’s belly, yanking on the umbilical cord and she was sending down a patty to feed him.  This episode was the eleventy seventh (No typo) anniversary of The Krusty Krab, and Patchy the Pirate pulled out all the stops.  I enjoyed hearing all the alternative versions of the evolution of SBSP, they were singing theme songs for everyone and I liked Patrick Seastar’s song the best: “Who lives like a barnacle under the sea?  Pa-trick Sea-star!” 

Krusty Krushers

 

 This was my second favorite episode, as Mr. Krabs had convinced SpongeBob and Patrick to become wrestlers in order to win a million dollar prize.  They wrestling scenes were hilarious, and Pig Patty and Short Order Boy are getting pulverized under Pig Patty throws in the buns of steel move.  Of course, I won’t mention whether or not they win the million dollar prize.   

Choir Boys

We ran out of time for Choir Boys, but if it involves music, I know I’m going to love it.  We will be watching this episode during Thanksgiving break.  The kids had already seen it, but I hadn’t and they tell me it is pretty funny.  Just looking at this picture makes me giggle in anticipation.

Porous Pockets

SpongeBob and Patrick find a “volleyball” inside of a screaming clam, and a very excited appraiser spots them on the beach with their giant pearl.  They earn a small fortune, and spend their money on gum and simple this at first.  Then SpongeBob meets the wrong people, and he loses his fortune.  This was a great lesson for the kids, as we see SpongeBob get taken advantage of by his so-called new friends who wanted him to give them money just because they realized he was way too generous.  Side note, my boy told us how he had a dream a few weeks ago that he found a buried treasure and became rich and never had to do homework again.  In his dream he was teasing his older sister since he was rich and then he felt guilty in his dream, so he bought her the New Moon movie, weeks before it was even released in theatres. 

My eleven year old recommends you buy this DVD because ” it is very creative and funny.”  He also recommends watching Truth or Square the extended version over and over because “there are a lot of details and this episode includes a lot of scenes that weren’t on tv; you can see things you haven’t seen the first, third, or even the eleventh time you have watched it before.”   I find that to be very solid advice coming from my SBSP expert.  If he’s happily watching this episode for the eleventh time, you know you will be getting something that will be watched over and over again. 

For all the latest news on SpongeBob, visit the official webpage here:

Listen to the eleven year old and buy your own copy of the new DVD by clicking here:

Here is a first look at the new Carrie Bradshaw book. This time around, she is in high school. MG, did I just die and go to heaven? Me already likey.

Who:  Candace Bushnell.

What: The Sex and The City Prequel, The Carrie Diaries Part 1.

When: April 27th, 2009.

Where: Booksellers everywhere.

Why: Because Candace Bushnell loves Carrie Bradshaw just as much as the rest of us do, and maybe it is also just a tiny bit too coincidental that the SATC 2 Movie the following month.  Regardless, I don’t friggin care.

The Carrie Diaries are being published and marketed for teens ages 14 & up.  Can you see young Carrie in her fabulous 80s high school clothes?  The music, the merchandise, the tv show?  How much do you bet woman in their twenties, thirties, and forties will be in line right behind those 14 year olds?  My god, I CAN NOT WAIT!  Random House and Ms. Bushnell, all I can say is Genius!

Ever since I saw the film “The World According to Garp” at age eleven I have wondered to myself what exactly did John Irving survive in his past?  I have waited patiently for nearly thirty years to find out.  I haven’t ever read a single thing about John Irving’s personal life; because figuring out exactly what happened to him to make him the type of writer he is has been a huge puzzle for me that I must figure out on my own.  Being a survivor of a horrific childhood myself, I knew Mr. Irving must have suffered even more than I had, as his stories are so twisted and dark.

With “Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel” I think I have finally figured out the puzzle of Mr. Irving.  While “A Prayer for Owen Meany” will always remain my favorite book of his, Twisted River is a close second. For whatever reason, I’ve convinced myself that this book is the true story of his life, or the true life story of someone very close to him, perhaps his own grandfather.  If it isn’t, then call me a fool, but please realize that whether this novel is a memoir or not, “Last Night in Twisted River” remains a brilliant story of father and son and grandson, and the fifty year long friendship they have with a mysterious logger.  Danny Angel, the protagonist of Twisted River is a writer in this novel and his own writing career mirrors the career of John Irving, and we read about Danny attending the Iowa Writers Workshop during the same time frame as Mr. Irving actually did.  Danny was even taught by John’s own most famous teacher Kurt Vonnegut.  I have always wondered why Mr. Irving writes about the subjects he has always written about, such as widows, Canada, wrestling, motherless and fatherless children, left hands, bears, and even abortion and all of these subjects get a curious mention in his latest book. 

Twisted River is the kind of Charles Dickensesque type of story Mr. Irving has written before, and this time around he manages to capture the small New Hampshire logging town of Twisted River beautifully, beginning with the drowning of a young boy named Angel and the failure of the mysterious Mr. Ketcham to catch him before he was lost under the logs forever.  Dominic and his son Daniel (Danny Angel) are friends with the logger Mr. Ketcham, and certain terrible events cause them to go on the run together over and over again throughout their lives leaving loved ones and good Italian restaurants behind.  What I find most fascinating about this book is that Daniel grows up to be a famous writer and has a long successful career before he settles down to write Twisted River, the very novel we as readers have been reading the entire time.     

Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel is defiantly the best book I’ve read in 2009.  I stayed up until 5:15 am to finish it.  I’ve spent more than evening staying up all night reading this book, as well as many other of Mr. Irving’s books.  I once worked an eight hour shift, drove a twelve hour road trip, visited and drank with a friend all night long, then sat down and finished The Hotel New Hampshire in one sitting after all of this and finished in time for my friend to catch me still awake after having one of the longest thirty days in my life.  John Irving is just that good of a writer.  All I can tell you is that Twisted River is fabulous and you need to go buy this book immediately to find out for yourself just how good it truly is. I promise you will be lost in a world like none other.  If you have already purchased it for yourself, then go buy it for a friend, because books make the best Christmas gifts.  A story like this stays with someone forever, while that sweater may only last two or three seasons.

John Irving’s Work

• Setting Free the Bears – 1968
• The Water-Method Man – 1972
• The 158-Pound Marriage – 1974
• The World According to Garp – 1978
• The Hotel New Hampshire – 1981
• The Cider House Rules – 1985
• A Prayer for Owen Meany – 1989
• Trying to Save Piggy Sneed - 1993
• A Son of the Circus – 1994
• The Imaginary Girlfriend - 1996  
• A Widow for One Year – 1998
• My Movie Business - 1999
• The Cider House Rules: A Screenplay – 1999 (Academy-Award winning screenplay)
• The Fourth Hand – 2001
• A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound – 2004
• Until I Find You – 2005
• Last Night in Twisted River – 2009

 

John Irving’s website can be found here.   

You can purchase Twisted River here. 

And see John talk about his latest book below.

I have been thinking about food a lot lately, mainly because I haven’t went out to eat in months.  The recently opened a Sonic in Michigan, and all I keep reading about on Facebook is how some of my friends are going there.  I’m dying for a good burger and I am going through major burger withdrawal.  Burgers are a way of American life, and I love and worship them so much that I even have a key cap of a cheeseburger on my house key.  I came across this lovely picture of a cheeseburger from my trip to California a few years ago.  My very favorite burger place, In-N-Out Burger just happens to be about 2,500 miles away from my house, so there is no guarantee that I’ll be able to ever eat one again.  The last time I had one was in Vegas in 2003, and I’ve been thinking about having another one ever since. 

Just look at how damn yummy this burger looks.  You can almost taste it, can’t you?

If you could eat a burger right now, where would you go to get one?  I’d fly to Vegas to get this Double-Double, and die a happy woman.

Is comedian Katt Williams ”the next Richard Pryor?”  It seems that everyone including Rolling Stone Magazine seems to think so, and after listening to his new three disk CD box set Katt Box, I’m ready to agree with them.  Katt Williams is absolutely hilarious.  Katt Box includes Katt’s three top-selling albums American Hustle, It’s Pimpin’ Pimpin’, and The Pimp Chronicles, in stores now.  Go buy your copy today, because you won’t be disappointed.

If you aren’t a huge fan of his, you must be asking yourself, just where the hell have I seen him before?  Because I know you’ve definitely seen him before.  Katt Williams has a very recognizable face, and that is because he is on fire and has been everywhere, beginning with The Improv, The Comedy Club, The Icehouse, The Hollywood Park Casino.  You may have seen him on the BET Network, appearing on shows such as Comic View, Rip the Runway, Black Carpet, 106^th & Park, The BET Awards and BET Comedy Awards.  Perhaps you have even seen him on MTV, either in Wild n’ Out, or in Outcast’s video Roses.  He has even been on NYPD Blue, The Tracy Morgan Show, and My Wife and Kids, as well as many other comedy shows.  He has famous friends and supporters, such as Master P, Eddie Murphey, and Snoop Dogg.  Katt has already been in a few movies, Norbit, Perfect Christmas and Marshalls.

You can catch a few clips of Katt Box’s audio clips by just clicking here to listen to Insurgents from The Pimp Chronicles, Part I, and here to listen to Biggest Gangstas from American Hustle, and here to listen to Finally Got My Motorcycle from It’s Pimpin Pimpin.

Everyone needs a good laugh and I am so glad Katt Box found its way into my hands to review.  I can not stop laughing after listening to Drinking With White People, Raggedy Bitches, Michael Jackson, and Insurgents.  Honestly the entire set is fantastic, but those are my favorites.  Warning, don’t watch these videos at work or around little kids, as there is a bit of naughtly language.

Katt Box Track Listing:
It’s Pimpin’ Pimpin’
1. Your Star Player
2. Date A President
3. Ritalin and Steroids
4. Poor Little Tink Tink
5. Laugh First
6. Have Your Team Together
7. Franchise Player
8. Scared Of Rope
9. The Vaporizer
10. Finally Got My Motorcycle
 
The Pimp Chronicle pt. 1
1. Katt Takes The Stage
2. Self Esteem
3. Weed
4. Insurgents
5. Haters
6. Kids
7. Drinking With White People
8. Make Up Your Own Dance
9. Hollywood
10. Michael Jackson
11. My House
 
American Hustle
1. Hello Chicago
2. Biggest Gangstas
3. Orange Chicken
4. Too Many Guns
5. Quiet Haters
6. Raggedy Bitches
7. Work To Do
8. Bitches-N****s

To buy Katt Box click here.

Do you ever have a week that is so crazy you have to remind yourself to even eat?  That is exactly what I’ve been going through for the past two weeks, and this is why I have been MIA for the past week. 

I have no time to write the fifteen or so separate blog posts I have in my head, so I’m mashing them all up in this ADHD mental purge while talking a much needed break from filing out medical records.  I have been filling out paperwork for four hours.  Not only am I getting ready for my my fourth doctor’s appointment in two weeks tomorrow, but I’m also trying to get into the only clinical trial for connective tissue diseases in the entire U.S.  and the paperwork is killing me.

  

• Monday morning I finished reading the best book I’ve read all year, John Irving’s latest book Last Night in Twisted River.  I wrote out half of my review this morning then crashed for four hours.  I hope to post it soon.  My goodness, I love it when a book get’s me all crazy in love.  People, go get it in the meantime!
• I have been thinking that with all of the remakes out there in Hollywood, I’d suggest to them to remake Slapshot.  I even spelled out the entire cast and wrote up a fabulous blog post, only to have read on IMDB that they are remaking the film.  What a waste of an hour …  
• My book club was not as successful as I had hoped, and I am wondering why.
• I watched Into The Wild last night and was blown away.  Who has read the book, and how much better is it than the movie?
• I’ve always enjoyed vampire films, but after being over saturated with New Moon, First Blood, and The Vampire Diaries, I’m just done.  I can’t take hearing about one more vampire movie, book or tv show or I’m going to stab myself through the heart with a wooden stake.  Anyone else feel this way?
• My step-daughter doesn’t ever seem to have homework and yet she got all A’s and one B this semester.  She kills me.  She goes to a hard high school and she is also an athlete.  I wonder if she worked to her full potential just what she could accomplish in her life.  This makes me wonder what I could have done if only I applied myself in high school instead of skipping classes daily and getting 25% knocked off all of my grades all four years.  Damn ADHD.  Thank god by college I buckled down.  I had a rare dream (I don’t dream often as I rarely go into REM sleep.  My last sleep study showed three nine minute REM stages, how sad- I miss dreaming.)  this afternoon about high school and how I was so scared to write for the school newspaper, as I was afraid of competing with the other writers, especially the one who was my boyfriend.  So stupid, right?  This is why I have never even submitted one single story for publication, I think I suck and everyone else is way better at writing than I am.  I wish some kind experienced writer would take me under their wing and mentor me, give me the courage and guidance I need.  I have been trying to finish my novel I started in 1991.  Not one page has been written since then.
• I’m reading Stephen King’s book On Writing and I feel foolish never knowing he was an alcoholic and did coke.  I rarely read about my favorite living authors, as I like to get to know them in their books rather than outside of their books, probably since so many actors have ruined their careers for me by turning up in tabloids and news acting all stupid.  I think it is a while mystery thing for me.  But now after getting half way through this book I want to know everything about Mr. King.  I know a girl who lives in Maine and she told me that he goes around Borders Bookstore and signs copies of his books to surprise fans.  Is that not the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?  Feel free to share some Steven King stories with me here.
• I’m trying not to freak out about the many new weird things going on with my body lately.  Now I have PAC’s (Pre-Arthymia) and I’ve been totally exhausted and can’t sleep more than a few hours due to both hyper and hypo thyroid.  And my eye lashes and hair are falling out like crazy … I even have a mini bald spot in my hair line.  Plus my right eye is getting smaller because I may have Graves Disease, not to mention that my Neuropathy pain is so bad that I’m going to ask for pain pills for the first time in my life.  I had a friggin hysterectomy and only took morphine one out of the four days I was in the hospital and barely popped any other pain pills during recovery even though I had eleven staples in my belly and the surgery was difficult as my poor uterus had split in half and slipped into my pelvic bone.  Right now I am in so much pain because my hands and feet are so cold that it feels like I have frost bite, which is another reason I haven’t been blogging.  I hate taking my hands outside of my heating pad or the blanket.
• I finally got a king sized bed, even though I know we shouldn’t have spent the money since I’m unemployed.  My guilt lasted until I laid down in it the first night, and I’m happy to report that is was like I was laying in the womb with my down comforter and high thread count sheets.  (People, you need to go to overstock.com if you ever need bedding.)  I almost texted all my friends “I think I just had a tiny orgasm” from the joy that bed gave me that first night but my phone was too far away.  I am desperate for sleep since I’ve had insomnia since I was five years old, and I’ve tried everything from black out curtains to wedge pillows, lavender scented linen spray, my college anthropology book, Ambian, Lunesta, Tylenol PM, no reading in bed, no tv in my bedroom, fake down bedding, and about sixty other things and nothing else in the past has worked for me.  I’m praying this new bed helps.  While I haven’t slept much since getting it Friday night, I have felt like a fairy princess and this makes me very happy.
• I am still loving V and I finally watched Flash Forward again.  Thank god for sci-fi shows in these rough reality tv and weak comedy tv show times.   And my Glee, love it, love it.  Can’t wait, tomorrow’s show looks fantastic.  I want the soundtrack #1 so bad.  Also, I have been watching Gossip Girl and that threesome was so dumb.  I hate ratings stunts over good writing.  Also, two weeks ago on GG (the debutont ball episode) I am happy to report that a blog friend of mine is the aunt of the hot young actor who Queen Jenny wanted to be her date.  She told me he was going to be on like a few months ago and I was thrilled to hear he was the hottie.  I wonder if he will take off from this?
• I am dying to see a good movie – I’ve seen only two in theatres all year, and it looks like quite a few good ones are coming out within the next month.  I hope I can make it to a theatre soon.  Any of you seen anything good lately?  I’m really looking forward to New York I Love You, It’s Complicated, and Brothers as well as that George Clooney one, especially since it was partially filmed in Detroit at our new fancy airport terminal.
• I think my brother is beating up my mom.  Long story, but I am about 90% sure of it.  She is so scared of him that she refused to even give me his phone number until I screamed and screamed and threatened to never talk to her again.  I know she called him first to get permission, as she called me back with it ten minutes later.  So sick.  She kept repeating “You don’t know how he gets” and I can only imagine this may be the reason she gave him her entire inheritance.

About a month ago I decided to start an in-home and online joint book club,  My first monthly Ghetto Girl Book Club will be held tonight – Tuesday November 10, 2009 from 7-9 pm.  If you can’t join us at my house, then at least join me online.  You’ll be missing out on my famous ranch, cheese and bacon dip, but at least you can live vicariously through the photos I’ll post later, as I will be updating this blog post live throughout the day and evening up until tomorrow.

Our book this month is Girl, Interrupted and it was written by Susanna Kaysen.  I’m so excited about this choice, as I saw the movie back in 1999 and watched Angelina Jolie steal the film away from Winona Ryder, which is exactly why Angelina deserved that Oscar.  I enjoyed the movie, because mental illness is fascinating to me and there was plenty of it in the film.  Ever since then I’ve been planning on reading the book, and now that I finally have I can safely say the book was completely different than the film, especially since the film had a different and much darker ending. 

Girl, Interrupted was written by Susanna Kaysen and it is about her two-year stay in a mental hospital as a teenager back in the 1960’s.  She would be eventually diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a mental illness I still have trouble understanding completely.  Even while I was reading the book I kept saying to myself, but what does she have wrong with her exactly?  I laughed when I turned the page and read the section on the definition of this disease, as I still didn’t understand BPD fully.  I think this is due in part because both the book and the film never shared enough of the ”dark and twisty” moments Susanna had.  I have trouble visualizing this conditions, as I’ve seen first hand most other mental illnesses.  After watching the movie I thought Susanna was committed mainly because she was slutty, and after reading the book I thought it was because of her suicide attempt, she was slutty, and having a hard time with a new shrink who didn’t know her.  After reading the part when Susanna was trying to chew into her hand to see if she could find bones I thought it wasn’t that big a deal.  Then again, I grew up in a house where my brother chewed the noses off of our cats because he wanted to see if they were plastic, as well as having a neighbor who was a cutter and was all scratched up all the time, especially her arms, and they frightened me. 

If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, still visit us and even weigh in on the discussion.  You never know what is going to pop up in the comments or on this post later. 

• For instance, did you ever notice how the early movie posters showed Winona Ryder, but once the film came out all of a sudden Angelina Jolie was thrown on the cover art?

My favorite quote from the film:

Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60’s. Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted.

 

• My first thought when I shut the book was why would the producers of the film take away the whole meaning behind the title?  As much as I liked that quote in the film, I found the inspiration behind the title fascinating, as I love art and Vermeer.  Susanna had seen Vermeer’s Girl Interrupted at Her Music with her high school teacher.  I had planned on going to the Frick last November to see the same painting but I ran out of steam and missed seeing it.  Why don’t you all tell me how Susanna felt after seeing it for the first time, and how she felt about it after her hospitalization?  What was it about the girl who haunted her? 
• Susanna’s voice while narrating Girl, Interrupted seemed clam, and convinced me that she wasn’t that crazy, perhaps a little bored or lost.  Did any of you notice a change in her narration while reading this book?  Did Susanna herself every change?  Was she “crazy” enough to be in McLean in the first place?
• How do you feel about seeing her medical records as well as her own account of what happened during those two years?  Do they balance the story, or do you feel she was trying to justify her stay by including them in the book?  
• Why did Susanna leave out most of the details of her life before entering McLean Hospital?  Is she telling us that nothing else should matter to us as the readers?
• Even though Susanna tried to explain madness in two different ways by telling us how madness feels and how it is treated, did you comprehend her particular mental illness?  Do you understand madness at all?  Any experience with it?
• Did you find it was easier to understand the madness of the other patients rather than the madness of Susanna herself?  Do you feel as a reader we can trust her observations of madness, when she was claiming to be mad herself?  Is it possible for a person struggling with madness to even have insight of other mental patients?
• Susanna was just eighteen years old when she checked herself into McLean Hospital, the very same hospital that once housed some of my favorite writers and musicians, Sylvia Plath, James Taylor, and Ray Charles.  In my opinion McLean seemed like the place the rich sent their troubled relatives.  Did any on you think of it this way?  Did madness ever rear it’s evil head at McLean?
• Did you find it offensive when Susanna wrote this ”Luckily, I got a marriage proposal and they let me out. In 1968, everybody could understand a marriage proposal?”
• Where you surprised by Susanna’s reactions to Georgina and Lisa in the outside world?  Why?
• If Susanna Kaysen was eighteen years old today, would she had spent two years at a place like McLean?  What would happen to her in today’s world?
• I’ve mentioned that I felt Susanna went to McLean because she was sexually active.  Do you feel sex and madness are related? If Susanna was a teenage boy, would they still have sent him there?  Do you feel she was punished rather than treated?

 

I’ve been in love with Augusten Burroughs for a long, long time.  It started off innocently enough; his first book Running with Scissors kept flirting with me by winking at me every time I passed it in Borders.  I kept reading fantastic reviews of it and I knew it was going to be a book I’d love.  I suppose you can judge a book by its cover.  I also knew that someday Running with Scissors was going to turn into a movie, and therefore, I couldn’t read the book until the movie came out.  [Side note: Since I'm also a huge movie fan, I can never read a book first, as the movie is always spoiled for me.  This is why I can't read any of the Harry Potter books until I see the last movie.  I know this sounds weird, but it works for me, because we all know that the book is almost always better than the movie.  For instance, consider The Godfather.]  After a long wait the movie came out and I could finally read the book, and when I finally did about three years ago, I fell hard for Augusten.  Not just because he was funny and could somehow make me laugh while describing his horrible and painful childhood, or that he was a great writer; I simply fell in love with him because he is a fellow dysfunctional family survivor.  If you’ve never read Augusten, then you need to do so right away, because he is downright fabulous.

 St. Martin’s Press.  Cover Art by Phil Mazzone.

Augusten Burroughs has once again delivered with his latest book “You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas.”  I loved it so much I read it in one sitting the same day it came in the mail.  [Thank you St. Martin's Press for answering my prayers and sending me this book to review!]  I believe that everyone who has ever suffered through a terrible holiday will certainly appreciate and adore this book.  Augusten’s favorite holiday is Christmas and he shares seven Christmas stories from different periods in his lifetime, some sad, some tragic, and some downright awful.  I suspect even those who have managed to have “perfect” holidays [Just who are you people, and more importantly, what was it like?] year after year will likely find themselves in tears from laughing so hard after they finish this book.  Who can resist reading a story about Augusten waking up in horror besides a naked Frenchman dressed as Santa Claus inside the famous Waldorf Astoria?  Augusten has that rare ability to make us laugh while he is writing about the most horrible events imaginable.  He is one of the rare modern-day authors who is more addictive than chocolate.   

Augusten, Me, and Haven Kimmel, 2009

You will be thrilled to hear that not one, but two other writers are mentioned in this book, and I myself couldn’t be happier to see their names in print.  I’m not saying who, but for those true fans of his, I’m sure you can guess!

When you grow up in a home of severe dysfunction like I have, you become more aware of other people who are suffering, or who have suffered in their lifetime.  Something in the way they carry themselves, something different in the eyes, and something in the face that gives it away.  I can spot a child of dysfunction a mile away, and many adult survivors as well.  Breaks my heart every time, because I know dysfunction is something that never leaves you, something you can never forget, and something you can’t ever fully recover from.  All of you other children of dysfunction, this song is for you!  I jogged to this song every other day in sixth grade gym class, and with each step I took, it made me feel strong and allowed me to count down the last years left living my nightmare.  I knew there would be an end, and that was how I survived it.  I have survived horrible things, and Augusten has survived much worse than I have, and we are still alive and kicking.  Get out, and start living life.  Just start by putting even one foot forward.  And if you can’t even make it that far, just go to the bookstore and BUY THIS BOOK!

John Grogan, journalist and author of the beloved Marley & Me has struck gold again with his second memoir The Longest Trip Home.  I fell in love with The Longest Trip Home within a matter of pages, and it wasn’t because I am a sucker for memoirs.  I loved it simply because it hit home for me; it was relatable, both funny and sad, and most importantly, it is about family and how hard it is to be a part of one.  I could gush and go on and on, but let me say this – when I cry for a full hour during the last chapters of a book and I feel good about it, then I know that book came into my life for a certain reason.  It isn’t important for me to share my reasons with you today, but I will say that I enjoy reading all types of books, and sometimes it feels great to have a good cry about someone else’s life for a change. 

I wanted to read this book because Mr. Grogan and I both grew up in Michigan, just miles apart from one another.  I hadn’t read Marley & Me or seen the film, but I knew almost everyone else on the planet adored his first memoir, so I took a chance as I figured he had to be a good writer.  (He was.)  When I began to read the book, I found out how similar we were, as we each screwed up in high school and even graduated from the same college.  What I didn’t expect was that while we had very different families, ethnicities, parenting styles, and even pets, we both struggled with our religion (Catholicism) and we each tried to please our family at a time when no one else was “being good.”  Even though I was raised in my poor white trash hood a decade later, we still had the same problems.  

The Longest Trip Home reveals the Grogan family duality, as his parent’s home was filled with religious shrines, crosses and Madonnas, and John’s secret and separate world included home grown marijuana plants, tormented older neighbors and even bad altar boy shenanigans including getting liquored up on communion wine.  His father was a man of faith and community and he always helped others, while John sold underground newspapers and terrorized his old man neighbor.  John was like any typical teenage boy who had very atypical parents.  No matter what he did it was wrong to someone else.

John Grogan grew apart from his parents when he let go of his Catholic faith.  As with any family, it is hard when your parents, wife, children and siblings differ from you.  Thankfully for John he was able to come to his own conclusions about religion, while maintaining the peace between his not-so-religious wife and his very devout mother.  Every man is pulled in the opposite direction when it comes to both the ladies in their lives, but in John’s case, his wife had no interest in Catholicism and his mother was so religious that she performed secret emergency baby baptisms, and somehow he managed to stay connected to both.

My favorite line in the book was near the end, when John was reflecting back on the day he and his father sailed for the last time.  Mr. Grogan’s father gave him the secret of life when he was giving him the sailing tips - “Small corrections” and ”Life is all about small, continuous corrections.”  I just found those lines to be so true.  What happens next showed John how unpredictable life can be and before he knew it, the boat had capsized, and later, he finds himself in the middle of the circle of life, never an easy place to be in.

You can find John Grogan’s website here, and his blog here.  Read both, he is an interesting man and has a lot to offer to his fans.  Before I forget, I already went out and grabbed a copy of Marley & Me, and I’m nearly finished with it.  As of right now I like The Longest Trip Home more than Marley & Me, so if you loved his first book, you have got to go out and pick up his second book now!

*Many thanks to the ladies over at TLC Book Tours who not only introduced me to this wonderful author, but who once again gave me the honor of being a book tour host for them.

Is it me, or did “V” rock tonight?  I totally loved it and plan on watching it for the rest of the season.  However, my fellow sci-fi lovin’ husband disagreed with me and after thirty minutes he gave up and left, muttering something about not being able to stomach any more drivel.  So, if you hated this show, I can take it. 

I don’t have time to do a huge post, as I’ve been awake for twenty-nine hours straight, I’m also watching the Kathy Griffin “Balls of Steel” comedy special, and I still have to write another post tonight as well as search for a job before I crash and finally go to bed.  Let me quickly say the following about the show as well as a little background.

“V” is a remake an 80’s miniseries that was so successful that it had another miniseries sequel, which then gave birth to the TV show that aired in 84-85.  I was much more of a sci-fi nerd then, so I was all over those programs.  The current 2009 TV show “V” is about aliens who come to earth in their big fancy space crafts.  The kicker is that they are led by the beautiful Anna and they look exactly like humans, and they are friendly.  Instead of aliens, they call themselves visitors, and so does everyone else.  Thus, “V” for short or the V’s.  People are getting used to them, they are nice, give free tours to the ships, and you seem to forget they are even aliens.  Then, the shite hits the fan when we find out the “terrorist” cell the FBI agents are following are really humans trying to stop the V’s from taking over the Earth, as they of course are lying and hiding the fact they are terrorists.  If you hate sci-fi, can’t stand the thought of things like this, you could handle this show. 

ABC is nicely doing a job to make it mainstream and “normal” looking to appease the broader non-nerd sci-fi audience.  And when I say nerd, I only mean it out of love.  I am a nerd, and I love all nerds and embrace nerdiness.  Nerds rule.  Perhaps this move might actually alienate (Ha ha, get it, alienate) hardcore sci-fi fans such as my hubby, because of the small details such as when FBI Agent Erica Evans (aka Juliet from LOST, played by Elizabeth Mitchell) points out something the V’s said which didn’t make sense, as it hints that they had been to Earth before.   Normally we nerds like to guess about these things, because the speculation is more fun than the actual material at times.  Plus they are throwing in all the hotness they find.  My god, they even have good old Scott Wolfe (Bailey Sallinger from Party of Five) playing Chad Decker, a journalist who gets tricked by the V’s.  Even better, teen lust, to get the teens hooked, which is why the show is on at 8pm in my mind.  Hell, why not, look at these two?

Basically, the show boils down to one thing – who can you trust?  How do people know what is right and how can you be sure of the choices you make and what to believe or not to believe?  Will devotion get in the way of the truth?  Oh, I can’t wait to find out.  We all face these types of questions, but when these Visitors look like humans and talk humans all with a pretty faces and hot bodies, how can you not be suckered in?  How can you tell who is human, or who is alien?  When you think of it, the show is kind of like politics, but with much bigger racks.  I’m in for next week, but are you?

I love Halloween!  I love the whole spirit of dressing up and making people laugh with my Halloween costumes each year.  It is the only day of the year where you and random strangers drop the shield and can just laugh and have fun, and you can be disguised while doing it.  It isn’t the same as New Years Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, and the night before Thanksgiving.  Halloween is such a fun day and I’m a little sad that I don’t have a job to go today so that I can attempt to win our annual Halloween costume contest. 

I loved being ridiculously silly at my old civil service job, and every year I’d make sure to visit all of our departments so we could all have a good laugh, because when the public would see me dressed up as Michael Jackson, and I would be doing the moonwalk, or walk around with my own umbrella holder, well, they would forget all about bitching at you that day and just be happy. 

This year I had an 80s party to go to and instead of wearing vintage 80s clothes like I had originally planned, as I still miss the banana clip, I decided to go with a movie-themed costume. 

 

I dressed up as Jennifer Beals as Alex from Flashdance, which was pretty funny in my own mind, but I’ll let you be the judge.  We had some music technical difficulties, so I never got to dance my routine to Oh, What a Feeling!  Just visualize me dancing here.

I enjoy the whole creating-your-own-Halloween-costume thing, and I thought I could give some of you last minute Halloween costume people some ideas, and being a huge fan of movies, I thought a movie character list would work and be fun.  Plus, Salvation Army has tons of clothes at cheap prices.  Sometimes, just going through the racks will inspire you to come up with something.

• Wayne or Garth from Wayne’s World – Flannel, jeans, and attitude.  A guitar would so make you not worthy. 
• Marty McFly from Back to the Future – Red vest, skateboard, jeans.
• Jake or Elwood Blues from The Blues Brothers – Black suit, back hat, black sunglasses.
• Alex from Clockwork Orange – Just need a black bowler hate, while clothes, and one fake eyelash and mascara.
• Carrie - Prom dress and fake blood.  Long red hair or wig would pull it off nicely.
• Marry Poppins – Umbrella, carpet bag, and overcoat, with a nice little hat to top it off.
• Elliot and ET – My friend M. did this with her dad as a kid and it is still my favorite Halloween story of all time, since they did it right after the movie came out.  He wore a red hoodie and put her in the bike basket, and she was wearing some little brown felt thing to make her look ET-ish, while wrapped in a blanket. 
• Brady Bunch – Got a group of people?  This would be so much fun to do, just get some groovy clothes and learn the moves to Keep on movin’.  My friend K. tells me she did this once, and has no photos from that night, which breaks my heart. 
• Angelina Jolie at the Oscars, for her role in Girl, Interrupted - I dressed up as this in 2003, since my Daisy Duke costume wasn’t going to be appropriate for work.  I had the wig, the dress and the state all laying around my house.  
• One of the Hanson Brothers from Slapshot- Here I am in 1995.  Love this movie.

Not many of my girlfriends had seen the movies, but every guy I ran into died when they saw me in this.  So dudes, this clip is for you:

Got any of your own tips?  What have you dressed up in the past?  Let me hear them!

I love doing short photo posts, especially since I am in need of a time saver today!  I am a busy step-mom who has to grocery shop, finish reading a book, make dinner, make lunches, help with homework, then help make a million chocolate tortilla’s for my daughter’s Day of the Dead celebration in school tomorrow, as well as attend my last grant writing course tonight, all by 11:00pm tonight.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago at The Henry Ford, located in Dearborn, Michigan, where we have a family membership.  Love that place, and if you have never been, please go, it is the best museum in Michigan.  The DIA is a close second, but The Henry Ford honestly has something for everyone in your family, no matter how old or young they are.

Can you guess which city this famous sign came from?

First person to comment with the right answer wins, and you can come with me to The Henry Ford for free, as well as bring two of your children to tag along.  Unfortunately, this contest applies to Michigan residents only.

I try to keep my “negative” thoughts limited to my semi-weekly blog posts tittled I’m So Damn Sick Of.  This week has been a challenging week for me, and I’m attempting to put a positive spin on the negatives, hopefully.  I never sit down and plan these posts, they literally flow out of my brain and fingers.

Costs that are skyrocketing for food and household supplies - Is it me, or have any of you noticed how much more certain items cost at your local stores?  For awhile, I was paying like $3.00 for a gallon of milk if I couldn’t get to Costco or we had a milk emergency.  Finally, price wars has put milk under $2 in my neighborhood.  That being said, other items that I buy have went up $1, $1.50, $2, even $3 or $4.  Within a month.  Now, I live in Michigan, where the economy sucks, so I don’t know if it is nationwide.  All I know is that I am so sick of having to cut back on food for my family.  I freaked out today when a child in my house took the last of the lunch snacks which are specifically for lunches only, and it just wasn’t because I don’t have time to go grocery shopping tomorrow.  It is because to replace the trail mix, it is going to cost me $13.99 instead of the $9.99 it used to be a year ago. 

However, I have a few positive things to share.  One, Costco is now going to accept food stamps, and two, Kmart has a program where you can get a 20% off discount card on all the items their Kmart brand makes.  It it is called their Smart Assist Savings Program.  You sign up, print out your card which is good for six months, and bring your unemployment letter to show the cashier. 

School budgets in Michigan being slashed – In my state, our Governor has decided to cut school funding K-12 by $127 per child.  Now, nobody likes that, but if people had been paying attention to the budge last July, they would have found that out much earlier when they could have seen plans for 2/3 of our state programs being cut completely.  Even our library department budget is being slashed and I wrote passionately about it in August. 

I’m personally affected because my child no longer has weekend busing, so with all her events being on Saturdays, the coaches are expecting us parents to drive our kids and their teammates to and from events that may be up to four hours roundtrip.  Her sport lasts many hours, and with my husband and I going down to one car; our entire family has to either go to each game, or those who stay home can’t have plans to go anywhere for an entire day without securing a ride. 

I’m actually more concerned about the liability of driving other kids on icy unsalted Michigan roads for four hours rather than being forced to hang out a competition for six hours.  That is why god made books.  So, getting to my positive point, if you want to help your kids, their schools, and in the long run, yourselves out, write, email and call your senators and you can begin to educate yourself here.  And, for more resources, visit the Michigan Legislature to see what bills are being passed, considered, or dying in session.  To find out who you need to voice your opinion to, go here to find your State Representative, and go here to find your State Senator.  Please take action if you want action taken for your children.

Electronic friendships replacing our personal relationships - Sure, we all read and love our blogs, Facebook, IM, texts, email, and whatever else that’s available out there, but I am sad for the old days.  Remember letters?  My goodness, when I was in college I was writing to over twenty people a week.  I love it when my mother-in-law brings out letters from when her husband was in the war, and she lets us read how beautiful his words were to her.  My husband has the same way with letters, and we somehow have both gotten away from letter writing, which totally sucks.  

I even miss phone calls that lasted forever.  Sure, on rare occasions I have those, but now most of my phone calls last under five minutes.  Or it is all just texts.  I miss when my friends called me, or even picked up their phones for me when I called them and we could talk and make plans to do things, rather than just having a relationships via Facebook.  I just deleted my personal Facebook account because it took too much of my free time checking two accounts with living life and job searching and having visual problems.  I did a test and nearly didn’t text a soul for an entire week, and guess what?  Not one phone call was returned.  I think I sent out six texts, and one or two were even answered.  I thought technology was supposed to save us time and energy, but then why is it that I feel more pressured and time crunched and have to rush to do too many things now.  Why, when I am unemployed, do I spend more time online that I did when I worked eight hours in a cubicle and was online all day?  To make matters worse, one of our computers doesn’t have the strength for the internet, so it is rendered useless to the family, and our main computer just blew its monitor, so we are down to one computer for four people, and my laptop is four years old and basically sucks.  The other night my word spellcheck wasn’t even working.  Always fun when you are sending resumes out. 

When my friend got mad at me for not commenting enough on her children’s new pictures on Facebook, it really got me thinking.  Is this what society has come to?  In the old days we would have saved time to meet, have lunch, and look at the pictures.  Now, we get mad at each other when someone who hit likes should have left multiple comments.  I know that she just was thrilled to have great pictures of her kids, and maybe didn’t realize that I am not able to be on Facebook all the time because I have to write letters to doctor’s offices for billing mistakes, or write emails trying to get clinical trials on top of my usual work load.  Computer use was limited all weekend long.  I have ADHD and it is killing me to keep up with everything.  All week I have been staying up until 6 am so that I can have time to search for jobs for five hours a day, plus blog, and read and respond to the 300 emails I receive daily on top of reviewing and responding to every single Facebook message, photo, comment, etc.  I am sorry if my photo comments were lacking on the beautiful pictures of your children, but perhaps you can realize that I am simply an old-fashioned girl who just needs a phone call from time to time.

And when I wrote hilarious, I meant  it.  Just read what Mr. Twitter King has said in the past:

I don’t read.  I don’t watch the TV shows that are about that.  I don’t read the magazines that make things up about people.  I know what the truth is.  I don’t sort of indulge in my own fodder.  I don’t really care what they write about me.  – Ashton Kutcher

Right, he doesn’t even read, yet he posted this on his Twitter account recently: “@frostillicus123 spell appreciated right when you are insulting me.”

Obviously he reads what people are saying about him.  I shook his hand once when he autographed a script for me of That 70’s Show.  It was limp.  And you wonder why 3,891,818 people follow him on Twitter so they can read what he is talking about. 

And then we have Lindsay Lohan.  Oh Lindsay. 

“I watch people, I just sit there and kind of observe what’s going on around me and see if other people have changed.  I know what that looks like and I don’t want to be that kind of person.  It’s bad karma.” – Lindsay Lohan

A tweet from Lindsay’s Twitter page, just illustrating my point about how her life is changed for the worse.

“Nothing a police escort in Paris! Talk about riding in style hehe! Thanks Dimitri! http://twitvid.com/420A8“

She should have remembered about that bad karma.  I can not believe how much she has changed.  From freckles and Disney to Firecrotch to Lesbian to a nobody who has to make the news with a home break-in story rather than her latest film.  You were good kid, real good.

 

  

Jude Law.  Oh boy, the road you’ve chosen for yourself. 

“Those years when you’ve suddenly allowed legally into bars and clubs, and the world suddenly you realize is offering itself to you.  I would say I guess that if you look at my life, I was always someone who looked for commitment and that was in my make-up.” - Jude Law

Jude, how do you define ccommittment?  First, there was your failed relationship with Sadie Frost, your ex-wife and mother of three of your children.  She divorced you allegedly because you cheated on her.  Then you cheated on your ex-girlfriend Sienna Miller with your kid’s babysitter to everyone’s horror.  Then you get back together was Sadie Frost, and then knock it was some struggling actress after a family holiday?  Now, the baby-mamma actress Samantha Burke has your daughter last week, and this week you come back full circle to date Sienna Miller again?  My head is spinning.

P.S.  For the love of god, please go get hair plugs.

I’ve got plenty of great book news this week. 

First, I’m reminding all of you that our first Ghetto Girl Book Club begins two weeks from tonight.  Since The Girl from the Ghetto is newly unemployed, we are working with books I can check out from the library as well as the books I have in my own personal library.  Hopefully we will be moving on to new books in the future months.  Book Club is November 10th, and we are reading Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and watching the movie as well. 

Have you read it yet, or obtained your copy?  Don’t forget that we are also comparing and contrasting the book to the film.  And for those who didn’t get to finish the book, you can share your thoughts on the movie.  I’m really excited to do this online book club, and I hope it is fun for all of you.  Remember your thoughts are as important as mine, and nothing you share is wrong, as it will be your opinion.   

St. Martin’s Press.  Cover Art by Phil Mazzone.

Second, Augusten Burroughs  is on tour with his new book which was released today, YOU BETTER NOT CRY: Stories for Christmas.  I am so excited to read this book, and it is killing me not to be able to afford to buy it today.  Those of you who have started it, please let me know what you think, but don’t spoil it for me.  His tour starts tonight in Chicago, and if I had someone to drive twelve hours with me, I would have went.  I flew to Durham, N.C. earlier this year to hear him read with his BFF Haven Kimmel, and the two were wonderful together.  Augusten is a brilliant writer, and a fantastic speaker.  Please, go see him if you get the chance!

Augusten’s Tour Dates:

Chicago, IL
Tuesday, October 27 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
773.935.3909
Hosted by Borders Books
$5 with purchase of book, $10 without.
 
Boston, MA
Thursday, October 29 @ 6:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Coolidge Theater
290 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA 02446
617.566.6660
Hosted by Brookline Booksmith
Seating is at 5:45
Price is $5
 
New York, NY
Monday, November 2 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Barnes & Noble
Union Square
212.253.0810
Free + open to public
 
Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, November 4 @ 6:30 PM
Discussion and Signing
 class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”">SCAD Auditiorium
1600 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
Hosted by Outwrite Books
404.253.3206
Lecture free + open to public
Book sales: personal check or cash only
 
Miami, FL
Friday, November 6 @ 8:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Books & Books
265 Aragon Ave.
Miami, FL 33134
305.442.4408
Free + open to public

Austin, TX
Monday, November 9 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Book People
603 N. Lamar St.
Austin, TX 78703
512.472.5050
Free + open to public

Portland, OR
Wednesday, November 11 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Bagdad Theater
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
503.236.9234
Hosted by Powell’s Books
$22 advance and day of
 

Ticket price includes a copy of the book. Tickets available at Bagdad Theater box office, the Crystal Ballroom box office, Ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.

 

Third, I have just heard that Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, writers of  The Nanny Diaries have written a follow up novel called Nanny Returns.

 The book will be released in stores on December 15 - just in time for the holidays and those last-minute shoppers.  I loved the first book, and can’t wait to read the second.  What I’m most excited to share with you is that you can enter a contest on their website to win a free copy of Nanny Return.   

http://www.emmaandnicola.com/

They are asking readers to choose new cover art for their NY Times bestseller Dedication.  If you vote, you can be one of five who will win an advanced and signed copy of Nanny Returns.  The contest ends October 31st, and it is easy and fun to enter.  I voted for cover A, just in case you were wondering.  You can catch a sneak peek of Nanny Returns on the website on November 2nd. 

Seriously, this is the worst bed head I’ve ever had.  I think the hour I spent hitting the snooze button had something to do with it.

I know, I sleep in Hello Kitty pj’s.  What can I say?  I’m still a girl at heart. 

 

Am I right?  This little fellow is the cutest thing ever.  I could literally eat him up.

Why do stupid people do the things they do?  More importantly, why do they always seem to find me to act stupid in front of?  I must have a big stupid magnet attached to me, or god forbid, have been a stupid person myself in a former life.  I am beginning to think that I actually find stupid people more offensive than drug dealers, Lady Gaga, Diablo Cody  jumping on the vampire bandwagon, NBC’s decision to put Jay Leno on at 10:00 PM every night, the people who cancelled Arrested Development, and all reality shows that end in “Of Love.”  Don’t worry Jon and Kate Gosselin, Balloon Boy family, and all the nutters who refuse to believe in global warming, you all are still equally footed with stupid people, since you all are being stupid yourselves.

When I write that I hate stupid people, I’m not talking about the folks with minor stupid crimes, like the cell phone shoppers who take up an entire aisle at the grocery store while talking at full volume.  Those people are just selfish and don’t care that they are bothering the public, which is why I feel no shame in sharing here that I either loudly say excuse me twice or just accidentally hit their carts on purpose to let them know of their shameful ways. 

No, I am talking about the major offenders, the types of people who either don’t think of the consequences, the people who make horribly wrong judgments, or those who obviously don’t care how their decisions will affect others.

For instance, within the past year I have read about five children that have been hit by cars in my community that are speeding and have illegally passed a stopped school bus.  So far, three of these children have died.  These crimes were committed by three women and one man, and all the children were in middle or high school, crossing the street to the bus or even just standing still waiting for the bus.   Who in the hell thinks that it is ok to pass a school bus just because they are a little late for work?  All I can say is, OMG!

Today I picked up the local newspaper, and I read about yet another young woman who endangered a child in my neighborhood.  She was drunk driving and crashed her car with her two-year old in it.  How stupid … who drives drunk with kids in their cars?  People of Michigan, do you know that having a previous drunk driving charge and then getting caught driving with a minor in your car can get you charged with a Felony?  My god, the dumb things people do just to have fun for a few hours.  Stupid people, please plan ahead.  Having even just two drinks in two hours means you most likely are driving legally drunk or impaired.   

I am also painfully aware of the 50,000 Detroiters who stood in line for hours pushing, shoving, screaming and even threatening to shoot each other at Cobo Hall earlier this month.  All were there to get federal relief money to help pay their bills.  Certainly not everyone there was stupid, but the fights were so severe that six people were taken away in ambulances and 150 cops were called to the scene.  The news broadcast literally frightened me.  Want to know the stupidest part?  Not only did organizers come unprepared by only having 5,000 applications for 50,000 when they knew the city of Detroit has nearly 30% unemployment, but the fights began because the people in line believed they were going to get cash in hand that day.  Even stupider, scam artists were selling fake applications and when those who bought them found out their applications were fake, they were told on the scene, not later, quietly and by mail, as they should have been to prevent the riots in the first place.   

I was at a grant writing class that took a year to get into, as it was free and classes are usually around $400.  To my horror, I was in a computer lab that could hold 30 people, but the instructor went on and on about how the nine students she had was too large of a group to teach.  Even more stupider was that I had to listen to my classmates ask stupid questions during the entire presentation such as how did you find that website when our instructor talked clearly had it spelled out on the handouts as well as up on the monitor to follow along.  I nearly lost it when my neighbor said she couldn’t get to a document due to a pop up, and in a panic yelled out pop up!  I had to show her how to open it by literally reaching over and hitting accept.   She thinks she is going to be so internet savvy after this class that she can handle professional grant writing?  I was so upset after that I spit out my gum and kept blowing my garlic breath in her general direction to disgust her as much as she disgusted me.  (Side note – ask me about the best pasta dish ever that only takes 15 minutes to make.  MMMMMM . …)  If you want to be a grant writer for non-profits agencies, I personally feel you need to know how to write and speak without sounding like an a-hole.  One idiot went on and on and after wasting thirty minutes of my time, she still didn’t get what the teacher was rather rudely telling her.  Lady, if you knew what people in the non-profit industry actually make, you’d never agree to sign up for that class in the first place.  For instance, my friend once told me she took a $50,000 pay cut to work for her non-profit agency.      

I don’t have the strength to write about every stupid person I’ve encountered within the past few weeks, but let me just end with this – I am not spending $2 to fax a billing office my receipt just because you made a mistake and you tell me Hippa laws prevent me from sending my scanned receipt that doesn’t even have my name on it via email.  If it was so illegal, why did you crack and allow it when I demanded to speak with your supervisor because I’m not even going to spurge for the price of a stamp because I’m unemployed and can’t afford it?  It is the principle, not the 44 cents people.  If you only knew how much of my time was spent in the past year dealing with mistakes others have made …

Feel free to vent and tell me your stupid people stories.