Hallelujah!

I’ve been putting money into a savings account to fund an emergency fund of three months of living expenses for more than 10 years. The emergency fund has been depleted time and again over the years, mostly because of emergencies. There have also been periods of employment where I could only save $25.00 per month. When you are shooting for $5100 in savings, depositing $25.00 per month can be particularly disheartening.

Still I persisted. And this month, I’m proud to say that I have reached my emergency fund’s first goal. Yip-yip-yipee! My next goal will be to have six months of living expenses in the bank.

What should I do to celebrate? Perhaps buy a pony?

Kidding. I’ll probably read another personal finance book.

A redoubling of efforts.

It’s been 18 days since I started my two-posts-per-day regimen. The good news is that I have posted 41 new posts since that time. The bad news is I am just now tip-toeing out of May.There are roughly 3 weeks until PSU school starts, and I want to be within a month of present day at that point. I need to be to August 29 or further. So I’m going to strive for four posts done per day. If I can do that, there will be 88 new posts published and we will hopefully be into September. Right?

Ugh! Never again will I get so behind.

10/3 note (date I’m actually hitting the “publish post” button): Hey! According to this blog post, I met my goal! Good job me!

Three sentence movie reviews: Happy-go-lucky.


I was uncomfortable during most of this movie, first because the main character is so cheery-weird that it is off putting. Then, the escalation of the oddness of the driving instructor combined with the cheery-weirdness of the main character was very jarring. I’m sure that was all the point, and I was engrossed the whole time, but I felt exhausted by the time the movie was over.

Then, I got to feel uncomfortable all over again because my domestic violence cousnselor boyfriend disagreed quite emphatically with the main character’s choice. Geez.

http://www.impawards.com/2008/happy_go_lucky.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Four Weddings and a Funeral


Matt and I watched this in celebration of the four weddings (and no funerals) we attended this summer. Matt had seen it long ago on a bad date and he enjoyed it much more this time. I remembered how delightful this was, but I had forgotten how funny it is.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1994/four_weddings_and_a_funeral_ver2.html

Poem for August: Stop all the clocks.

Stop All the Clocks
WH Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

All these weddings I’ve been to this year had me thinking about the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. Which got me to thinking about this poem.

You can see that scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA) if you want to hear a good Irish Accented version. John Hannah blows my version away.

This was simple to memorize, which was partially why I chose it for August, a month where I spent the majority not going to work and thus missing my prime memorizing time of the walk to the train and back.

Books read in August

Probably the best month of fiction reading I’ve had all year long. The nonfiction was good too.

Read

Manhood for Amateurs
Michael Chabon
It was interesting reading this directly after finishing Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed. I love Michael Chabon’s writing just as much as I love Elizabeth Gilbert’s. His paragraph-long sentences are delightful and most of this book I wanted to read out loud to someone. The opening essay “The Loser’s Club” was heartbreaking, and the rest was gleefully, beautifully written. When Ira Glass talks about us living in a time of “giants” of nonfiction storytelling, he is talking about Michael Chabon. I want to photocopy some of the essay just to possess them.

A Drink Before the War.
Dennis Lehane
New book in the series coming out November 30th. Time for a re-read.

Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure
Matthew Algeo
True story of Harry Truman’s post-Presidency road trip from Independence Missouri to the East Coast. The author retraces the route and discusses the original trip and how the sites have changed. This was a somewhat interesting book, though in places I felt it was not very well written.

Faithful Place
Tana French
After really loving Tana French’s previous books, I was excited to read this one. Like the other two I shirked responsibilities to tear through this one. Unlike the other two I figured out the “who” and they “why” about a quarter of the way through the book. As I am generally very slow on the uptake with mysteries, I would guess that this was a pretty obvious plot, which was disappointing. Still, I did devour the book, for whatever that is worth.

This Charming Man
Marian Keys
Ever since Olivia Goldsmith died–breaking my heart, by the way–I have been pining for someone who wrote the special class of books she did. On the surface, they were frothy “wronged woman finds love and vindication” sort of thick novels perfectly suited for a beach read. However, most all of her books had a strong, thoughtful social justice undercurrent that was very hard to miss. Near the end of this book I wondered if Marian Keys might just be my new Olivia Goldsmith.

This is the first book I’ve read by Marian Keys, whom I discovered through my friend Jan. I was initially put off by the narration of the lead character, and contemplated putting the book down because of it. I persevered, however and soon fell in love with her. This was a great, Goldsmith-style book that I was happy to spend the day with. Indeed, I couldn’t put it down. My thought of “I’ll get out of bed at 9:00” was moved to 11, then 1 and then I just gave up and kept reading until I finished around 4:00 in the afternoon. I’m interested to explore other Marian Keyes books and see if she can indeed engage me like Olivia Goldsmith once did.

What I Saw & How I Lied
Judy Blundell
This is a fairly engrossing YA book set in 1947. It’s a good exploration of the gray areas around telling the truth.

Looking For Alaska
John Green
Thanks to my current obsession, the Vlogbrothers, I now have three novels to read by John Green. This was a good YA novel that captured confusing parts of adolescence such as pining for someone you cannot have and identity formation.

Can’t Wait to Get To Heaven
Fannie Flagg
I have always enjoyed Fannie Flagg’s books, but this was incredibly saccharine. It was so sweet, I almost didn’t finish it. The plot is obvious, the mystery is haphazard and fleshed out/solved in the last few pages of the book and the characters are annoying. Overall, a disappointing read.

One Day
David Nicholls
Supposedly this will be made into a movie. The plot device–popping in annually on the same day to see what characters are up to–was pretty ingenious and kept me reading. I enjoyed the characters and their flaws and I think the best part about this book is how it captures so many life passages. I particularly loved the description of “third wave” weddings and also the thought process of a childless woman in her thirties. A very well done “romantic comedy” of a book.

The Motel Life
Willie Vlautin
I’m not such a big Raymond Carver fan and since Carver’s name is invoked in one of the many blurbs–along with Flannary O’Connor and also, Steinbeck, McMurtry, Johnson, McGuane–I was not such a fan of the book. Vlautin has a very crisp writing style which has an edge of desperation and hopelessness and humor. The book is a quick read and has great illustrations. I’m happy I’ve read it, but I don’t know if I need to read another by him.

Put Your Life on a Diet
Gregory Johnson
Tiny book written by a man who lives in 140 square feet. It’s full of good tips about how to reduce your footprint. My favorite: when downsizing, rather than agonizing about getting rid of things, just put everything in storage first, and take only the basic things you will need. After a year or two, you will not be as attached to many of the items and can easily give them away. The ones that still mean something to you are worth keeping. The book also includes a lot of resources.

Dies the Fire
S.M. Sterling.
Hey what if a strange event happened and suddenly all mechanical things did not work? Not even guns? Whose expertise would we need? It turns out that nerdy people who are involved in the SCA and other medieval/Renaissance recreation groups do come in handy after all. Who else today knows how to fight with a broadsword? Or make crossbows?

This was an engrossing distopian novel, though the Wicca exclamations (Lord and Lady!) of one of the main characters never ceased to annoy me, even after 500 pages. After awhile the fight scenes became repetitive, so I’m contemplating not continuing with the series.

An Abundance of Katherines
John Green.
It has footnotes! In a novel! And math! But not in an intrusive way! This was a great story, very funny, and the child prodigy reminds me of someone I know. A clever story and a great read, very recommended.

Started and did not finish.
Food drying with an attitude.
Mary T. Bell
I skimmed this for ideas, because after all, pretty much the drying world consists of the following recipe: slice, season, dry, store. There were some good ideas and I never would have thought of drying pickles, but you can bet your sweet bippy I will now, thanks to this book. One strength: there were a lot of recipes incorporating the dried food which comes in handy for anyone who ever wonders what the heck they are going to do with a bunch of dried zucchini.

Three sentence movie reviews: Brick


Recommended to me by the lovely Jan when I mentioned how much I like having discovered Joseph Gordon-Levitt, now I can recommend it to you. It’s a total film noir, hard-boiled detective 40’s-esqe film but set in a modern Southern California high school. Complex, entertaining, very well done and not at all violent or bloody. (read: Sara approved.)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2006/brick.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Bridges of Madison County


Nicely acted but so incredibly boring. I’ve read that book and it lit me on fire–I was 18 at the time–whereas watching this movie I was on the Internet reading its reviews and also the trivia about it on IMDB before I had even finished watching it. Did you know that the farmhouse had been abandoned for decades and the crew totally refurbished it?

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1995/bridges_of_madison_county.html

Full court press

Do I know what a full court press is? Something to do with Basketball? Perhaps offensive? What does the dictionary say? Hmmmm.

Full-court press

1. Basketball. a tactic of harassing, close-guarding defense in which the team without the ball pressures the opponent man-to-man the entire length of the court in order to disrupt dribbling or passing and force a turnover: Suddenly behind by eighteen points, they went to a full-court press.

2. a vigorous attack or offensive.



Okay, that’s interesting. Definition one says it’s a defensive tactic, while definition two says it’s offensive. That makes no sense to non-spectator-sport me.

At any rate! I’m here to tell you that I’m going to vigorously attack my horribly behind blogs between now and the start of PSU school. My class this fall, I’m excited about, but it is taught by a professor I’ve had before and she requires massive amounts of work. So, even more important that I catch up before that begins, as once I catch up there will be FIRM RULES about posting so this never happens again.

So!

From yesterday until September 29, I will post–actually physically post, not just write–TWO POSTS PER DAY! That will be 82 post posted between yesterday and then. I have no idea if that will catch me up, but it should make a very good dent. I have printed a check off sheet with two check offs already made and here I go. Of course, you won’t read this for awhile as I need to make my way to late August from mid-April, but just know that I’m on my way.