Monday, January 31, 2011

Dear Diary,

One of my readers (and I know who all 11 of you are) has left a critical comment that I should have been posting more often. Ordinarily I wouldn't react to that sort of comment, lest people think I can be shamed into writing a blog post. Those are not precisely the words I intended to use, but LK just walked into the room, saw my screen and said, "I see you've been shamed into writing a blog."

So let me tell you what has happened in the past rather undramatic week. I read some good books, played in lots of online poker tournaments, followed the news and watched the latest episodes of Dexter and Glee. (And have come to the conclusion that merging Dexter into the plot line would make Glee a lot more interesting.)

The books I've been reading lately have been very good. After finishing Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken", an amazing biography of WWII hero Louis Zamperini, I started in on "Cutting for Stone". Sandy had recommended it, and I really enjoyed it. It started relying too much on coincidences toward the end when everyone brought up in Ethiopia runs into one another half a world away, but by then I was hooked. Besides, it was always more about the characters than the plot.

Next I finally got around to Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections". In the new parlance of Kindle, I can tell you I am 32% of the way through and it is impressive. Unfortunately some of the dysfunctional characters (and they all are) seem way too much like some people I know and love, and that's always a bit creepy.

On the poker front, I've spent the last couple of months learning new games and now mostly play at the tournaments where you have to play five or ten different types of poker. I am actually doing a lot better there than just the no-limit hold-em you see on TV. I am considering turning pro, and probably will if I ever start winning.

On the home front, the baseboards (skirting boards) are in, the lights are in. In fact, everything is in. We will have the painting done in about two weeks and the renovation will be complete. We would have the painting done sooner, but it would interfere with our travel this week. You know, the first week of February in the Year "We Won't Travel This Much in 2011". I'd tell you more, but travel actually gives me something to post about, so why waste it when at least one of you is starting to nag me.

And finally, the biggest news of last week happened on Sunday night. Or, more precisely, did not happen on Sunday night. I was really enjoying big fat queen olives stuffed with feta cheese. They were marinated in a chilled gin-and-vermouth sauce, and it was so tasty I had several.

Regrettably, that meant that I forgot to put the trash and recycling bin out and both were already full to overflowing. The trash isn't a big deal and we could more or less catch up with last night's collection.

The recycling, however, only happens every other week. And now we have boxes and boxes of empty bottles sitting in the garage. Every time I leave the house it is a bit embarrassing to see how many bottles we have emptied in the last three weeks. Of course, I am usually leaving the house to go buy more stuff in bottles, so I don't really know when this is all going to end.

So there you have it - a new post. Now please stop bugging me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey I wasn't just thinking of me you know! I know that all your other blog fans eagerly look for a new blog each day - your mum and dad, Peg, to name a few! And every night my other half sits down with his Ipad and asks - " is there a new blog today?" and I feel like I have let him down when I have to say - " no dear, but no news is probably good news"
Now if you made it a once a week - say every Monday - then I wouldn't get upset when I see nothing when I check several times a day - but then that would stop most conversation in our house and I would lose that adrenalin rush I get every time I log on and think - "is it today?" So if you don't mind the occasional pestering, I don't mind the occasional blog. :)