Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Ten-ish on Tuesday- Cars

I am days away from having my life back (sort-of). The HUGE show that I am painting loads in on Thursday. So that means I have two days to finish everything...well, everything that needs to fit in the truck. I'm going to be be awfully close, but I should make it.  But that means everything else has suffered....writing, knitting, eating...I work straight through and then collapse at the end of the day, hopefully after the kids are in bed. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel and we'll see if it is a train or not. Eitherway, I'll have a paintbrush in my hands.

Anywho...Ten on Tuesday. Cars we have owned. Mine is a short list being I am only on my third car.

 1989 Plymouth Reliant
My first car. 4 cylinder, two door, tan exterior, maroon interior. (looked like the one pictured but two doors). Manual locks, manual crank windows (remember those?) Tape deck. Bought it from my Grandfather who lived with us at the time. We had been sharing it and somewhat continued to do so, but he wasn't really at a point where he should be driving. This was an old school car. The bumper was metal covered in rubber. There was no computer inside....you could work on the thing yourself. The thing was so light I would have to put sandbags in the trunk in the winter, even though it was a front wheel drive. But it was a good little car. I named him Norman after Norman Bates. That front grill smiling at you on a misty morning totally brought to mind the last scene of Psycho, and thus he was named. He was traded in for my next vehicle.




 1998 Oldsmobile Achieva

This car was a graduation present from my parents when I left college. Norman was not going to make the trip down to West Virgina where I was working the summer after graduation. And so Sophie came into my life. I had requested that my next car have 4 doors and air conditioning....and she has it. As well as 6 cylinders, power locks and windows. Not a bad car but there were several design flaws in it. It has a tendency for the doors to freeze shut in the winter. Since the back seat does fold down I could climb in through the trunk....and often had to. The trunk is designed so that what every might be sitting on it (snow, leaves, what-have-you) is dumped right into the trunk when you open it. There have been various issues over the years: the driver's side window has problems getting back into place, the spoiler on the back leaks rain into the trunk, various electrical quirks. She is still limping along, driven by my husband for the last 6 years. Well, not at the moment...her exhaust system kinda fell apart on the drive home the other day. Now she's just sitting in the driveway.



2006 Saturn Vue
Six years ago, a week after my son was born, we took another new addition into our family...my beloved Saturn Vue. For some reason, I've not named this car yet. It hasn't revealed its name to me. But I love this vehicle. When it goes, I don't know what I will replace it with. My heart was broken when Saturn went under. We specifically were searching for a Saturn Vue when we got this one. The only thing I did want and didn't get were heated seats. Next time. This car easily handles the car seats. The back fits all our luggage when traveling. Mine unfortunately has lost all its hubcaps due to overzealous mechanics using the air ratchet on the plastic nuts. I don't mind. Between that and the car seats, the car just screams "Nothing to steal here". It has a few bumps and dings...a scrape and small crunch on the back bumper from a woman turning her mini-van too closely at the gas station (and almost pinning a very pregnant me between the cars!)....multiple divots on the roof from the hail that accompanied the tornado that hit our town. The inside is graced with multiple tea stains, countless stray goldfish crackers, and a patina of dirt from the garden. But it's my car. And I love the thing. 

So there it is. And that being said I will pray that the divine trickster that haunts many of my adventures sees fit to overlook this post and not kill my current vehicle.*


*Edit to add: Apparently my prayer was headed but in the twisty way of trickster gods a loophole was found. I got pulled over on the way home because Geekboy failed to renew the registration. I knew posting on this topic was going to tempt fate.

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Ten on Tuesday- Books that stay with you

10 Books That Have Stayed With You Long After You've Read Them

  1. 1984 by George Orwell- I hated this book when I had to read it in my senior year of high school. And I mean ha-ted! this book. With a passion that would have brought down the thought police on me in nano-seconds. Now it is one of my favorite books. We own several copies of it. I have one that is high-lighted to death because every time I read it, I'll use a different color. It is fascinating to see what I found worthy of noting at different times of my life. I do remember how shortly after 9-11, at the height of the Patriot Act and the Bush Regime I picked it up again and had to put it back down. It was too raw and real. Part of me sees this as our future...just replace the governments with corporations in your mind when you read it the next time....and then let me know what you think.
  2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens- Dickens is one of the those authors that I forget that I completely love. I picked up this one after watching the original run of the mini-series with Gillian Anderson and a whole host of wonderful actors. It quickly became my fall back when I just needed a book to kill time. Dickens is a master craftsman of character, and this one has them all.
  3. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult- I'm not one to read popular books. I'm not even sure why I picked this one up, but WOW. I was crying for days after I finished the book. Meaning, I would just randomly burst into tears seemingly for no reason. I think the Geek-boy thought I was insane.
  4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden-A beautiful novel that draws me in so well that I forget that it is fiction. And written by a man. I don't know what about it strikes me so deeply, but it is a book I refuse to part with. 
  5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- Being a 'plain Jane' myself, I always felt an attachment to this story. There are so many times she could just give up, but she stays true to herself and takes the harder path. 
  6. The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton- A short story but one with deep impact. I still don't have an answer.
  7. A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury- Another short story but one that has lived within me. Even the smallest action has widespread potential. And the Simpson's spoof of it was pure genius. (From Treehouse of Horror V; perhaps one of the best episodes. Worth watching the whole thing but Time and Punishment starts around 7:20)
  8. The Dark Angel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce- I read this back in middle school after I had found the first book in the school library. This was the first story that I remember reading where I didn't get the storybook Disney ending. And it blew my mind. Yes, I had read Han Christen Anderson fairy tales but those were different for some reason. They didn't quite have the same impact of a trilogy of books I had invested myself in. A trilogy where I had to seek out the second two books. It really struck me and as stupid as it may sound, for someone who was 13 or 14, shook up my world view.
  9. The works of Charles de Lint- Too many books to list. I'm mostly referring to his Newford series. He is the master of Urban Fantasy. I use to be a fantasy purist...I liked my fantasy with a medieval flair with no machines. De Lint showed me that there is still room for magic and fantasy in our everyday mundane lives. He brought the magic back for me. 
  10. Shakespeare- I'm a Shakespeare Geek. I admit it. I adore The Bard and I don't care. Those who think it is pretentious and out-of-date are grossly misinformed....and should listen to ChopBard. Ehren Ziegler will show you that Shakespeare is pertinent to our modern lives, our sense of beauty....and full of dirty jokes and innuendos.

I love to read...and with technology today listening to books while I work. Here are a few podcasts to get your literary mojo going:

CraftLit- Heather Ordover's fabulous podcast described as books with benefits. She takes us on a wondrous journey through classic literature and shows why these books have lasted. And why we need them.

ChopBard- Read above. Has made me love The Bard even more.

Forgotten Classics- Julie takes on classic tales that have fallen off the radar, but are worth rediscovering.

Librivox- Free public domain audio books. Read by the public. Fair warning...some readers are less than stellar, but it is free.

And always check your local library. I download audio and ebooks from my library for free.

So what books have impacted you???