The Hourglass

Spent the weekend in Lampasas and Austin shopping with my aunt. Drove back yesterday listening to the Rolling Stones, Dave Rawlings, Allman Brothers, and Ryan Bingham....the gray clouds to my north looked like mountains. It was almost like being in Denver.

I gave a nice lady a ride today. She is Burmese but lived in Thailiand for 12 years. She and her husband both clean offices for a living and they have 2 children. She invited me into her apartment-a government funded duplex that was surprisingly clean and well-maintained. I am glad she and her husband both have jobs-maybe they can even find something better in time. They have only been here in the US for 2 years.

Started another Paul Theroux book-"The Old Patagonian Express," about his travels from Boston to Patagonia by train. Kind of interesting, but also depressing. It makes me happy to be home instead of my butt going numb on a smelly train.

I am going to be going to job fairs soon to look for a teaching job! Fingers crossed!

I watched "Julie and Julia" over the weekend (the book was much better) and it gave me an idea to do something day by day that I could write about. Maybe what I do best...reading? So I took a list of all the Pulitzer Prize winners to Half-Price Books and look around to see if any of them sounded interesting. I couldn't find most of them, ( I really wanted South Pacific by Michener and Lonesome Dove by McMurtry) but I did buy a book of Eudora Welty's short stories and N. Scott Momaday's "House Made of Dawn." The Pulitzer Prize winners overall may be too boring for me to read. But if I read about one a week I could finish in a year. I just don't know that I really care that much to read them all.

I saw a book the other day that seems intriguing...."The Know It All" by A. J. Jacobs. He is the editor of Esquire and an NPR contributor. His book is supposed to a funny, insightful account of his experience of reading all 32 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in a year. Umm, a bit nerdy? Yes. Fun? Hell yes.

Can't wait for a slew of fantasy movies to come out! "How to Tame Your Dragon," a new version of Robin Hood, and "Clash of the Titans." I'm like a 14 year old boy in a woman's body!

:)