Starbody

Missing in action, and I don’t mean that in a Arular kind of way.

In a nutshell, I have been possessed by a new book (a first novel, no less) from Elizabeth Kostova called The Historian. There is nothing I love more than a book that makes me curse having to perform everyday tasks because it interferes with me reading this book from cover-to-cover. There is a nice, concise review from Salon on the book if you’re interested. Brian had brought this book to my attention a week or so before it was released. I logged on to the Seattle Public Libraries site to place a hold on it, but was number 132 in line! Purchasing the book was my only option. I know it seems dramatic, but when I need a book … I REALLY need it.

Returned from a 5 day trip down to California for a drive down Hwy 1 through Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey and Santa Cruz (and accidentally through Los Gatos). It was a truly relaxing and fun trip. The highlight of the trip (besides testing our new backpacking gear) was definitely spotting a mother otter and her pup very close to the bluff we were perched on. The mother was diving down to grab clams to smack against a rock and pass on to the pup. It was quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Of course, I have a huge weakness for otters.

Listening to scads of new music. A couple bands (The Ponys and British Sea Power) are ones that I’ve never given a proper listen to. British Sea Power’s Open Season, The Pony’s Celebration Castle, Sleater-Kinney’s The Woods, Coldplay’s X&Y and finally diligently trying to like NIN’s With Teeth. And have you seen the latest issue of Spin? It’s a curse that my office has a subscription to it. It starts out innocently, flipping through to peruse pics … leading to accidentally reading some inane and unbearably pretentious article and/or review peppered with the word shambolic. I’m shutting up now. Vitriol is no good for the digestion. I love that word (vitriol, not digestion).

Happy Sunday evening.