Right now I’m reading Joshua Foer’s book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. It’s one man’s story about spending a year improving his memory after getting inspired by seeing the World Memory Championship competition. In this competition people perform amazing feats of memory like rapidly learning entire poems, memorizing the order of all of the cards in a deck and memorizing very long random numbers. The story is about Foer’s experience with this and through that story he teaches the reader about the history of memory training (very interesting!) and the basic techniques used by the memory champs to improve their memories.

The book is a good one. I’d recommend it.

Naturally, it’s got me thinking a lot about memory. The basic technique that Foer explains in the book, the mnemonic technique, is one that I’ve heard about many times before. (Coincidentally I just started watching The Mentalist and the main character describes the same technique in one of the few few episodes of season one.) The gist of it is that if you want to remember a series of things then you need to visualize them and visualize yourself placing them throughout a well-remembered place that you’re familiar with.

For example, let’s say that I want to remember the words “dog” and “bacon” and “breakfast” in that order. I might visualize my childhood home and picture myself greeting my childhood dog at the door. Then I go in and the first room I see is the kitchen where I picture a sizzling pan of bacon. To remember breakfast, the first thing that comes to mind is Breakfast at Tiffany’s so then I picture Audrey Hepburn sitting at my parents’ kitchen table. Of course, the technique is a little more detailed than that and it is used to remember much longer lists than three-item lists but that’s the basic idea of it. Like I said, it’s a technique I’ve heard mentioned many times before and it’s one that has been proven to work to help people remember things.

And yet, I wonder if it’s right for me. The main problem that I’m running into as I think about this is that I am absolutely not a visual person at all. This is something that I always knew about myself but my friendship with a visual artist named Anna has really made it clear to me over time because she is so visual and I am so word-based. I’ll tell you about two specific experiences with her that come to mind. First, let me tell you about a night that we got together with my friend Kelly to do some cooking at my house. I had picked up a really interesting book on Zen-based cooking ideas and that was what I was using to make my dishes. I was excited about it. When I showed it to Anna, the first thing she said was, “where are the pictures of the food?” I hadn’t even noticed that the recipes had no pictures or for that matter that this was unusual for a cookbook. I don’t think I ever even look at the photos of food in a cookbook even though I’ve noticed, since she pointed it out, that almost all cookbooks are image-based. Hm.

The other time I want to tell you about is when I tried to learn basic drawing techniques from Anna. She’s a terrific artist and I enjoy her work very much. And I’ve always wanted to be able to draw better. The class was fun. But it was challenging for me, not because I can’t draw but because I simply do not see things the way that you need to see them to be able to draw them realistically. Anna put a white egg on a white piece of paper and put a light on it to create shadows. We were to draw the egg using the light and dark spaces to create what we saw on our pages. It was difficult for me because what I saw was white on white. I saw an egg. That’s all. As Anna pointed out that this part was a shade darker or that was a shade lighter, I could see it, but when she moved away and left me to it I could hardly pick any of that out on my own. I recall asking her if she sees the entire world like this all of the time and she said that she usually does. It seemed to me like an overwhelming way to go through the world. Of course, I do realize that that’s just how she sees it and it doesn’t overwhelm her at all but trying to see shapes and shadows and lines is difficult for me so it seems draining from my perspective.

There are many more examples of this in my life. I am far more interested in the story behind something than the image itself. I read really fast and I think part of the reason is because I’m reading to get to the point of the story, not picturing every little thing the writer has etched into words. In fact, I get kind of annoyed by writing that has flowery language designed to create a visual image, especially if it doesn’t advance the story.

I remember having trouble sleeping when I was a kid. My dad told me on more than one occasion to count sheep. I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to picture sheep and count them. The whole idea made no sense to me. If I’d been told to lay there and create a story in my head about a sheep’s life then maybe I could have relaxed and drifted into slumber but just trying to picture sheep visually was an almost impossible task.

Now this is not to say that I don’t appreciate beauty. I like sunsets just as much as anyone. I enjoy looking at art pieces. But when it boils down to it, I remain more interested in the words and thoughts and ideas of most things than I do in just looking at them. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I can easily play TV in the background while I do other things and not feel like I missed something because I wasn’t looking at the screen. And it’s certainly why movies that are built primarily on what you see (action flicks, silent films) almost never interest me.

Bringing this back to the original topic, I’ve always felt like I have a fairly bad memory. I used to keep scrapbooks obsessively and I half-joked that it was because I wouldn’t remember anything without those pictures to tell me what I did. In recent years, I’ve come to realize that my bad memory is due mostly to the fact that I don’t pay attention to a lot of stuff around me. I am often too wrapped up in my own thoughts about something to even take in the visual cues and see what’s in front of me. And because of that, I wonder if I’m doomed to have a bad memory.

Now, I do think that it’s possible that the mnemonic device for remembering things could be useful for me. When I do have a visual picture of something, I definitely remember it more clearly. That’s why the scrapbooks work – I see something visually and remember the whole story of what I did where and with whom. And if I stretch my brain hard enough to assign a picture to words and drop them in my memory place then I’ll probably remember them. I don’t doubt that. But here’s the thing… trying to come up with an image and then actually know where to place it is extremely difficult for me.

The thing with these “memory places” is that you’re supposed to have a bunch of them. So if I used my childhood home for that “dog”, “bacon”, “breakfast” list then I’d need to use a different memory place for my next list. That way every time I go to the childhood home in my mind, that first list will resurface. And every time I mentally go to the next place the next thing will surface. But to come up with multiple memory places is in itself very difficult for me because I don’t visually take in a lot of places. So for example the techniques in the book recommend thinking first of the “easy” places like your normal walk home. I’ve lived on my same block for two years and I’d have trouble telling you which stores or landmarks are there, especially in any given order. In order to be able to use this as a memory place, I’d first have to memorize that. It seems like a lot of work.

I’m not sure what my thoughts are at this point on the value of memory. The book talks about how before books all knowledge was passed on orally and had to be remembered so memory was really important to learning, personal ethics, culture, traditions, etc. Now we have everything at the tip of our fingers so why bother remembering it? I think that there’s some value to the idea that having a memory bank to tap into allows you a broader reference for things and there’s wisdom available to you as a result. I certainly wish I’d remember a fraction of what I read! But I also am really glad to live in a time when information is at my fingertips and I don’t have to memorize it to utilize it.

I guess I think that if I wanted to work harder to take things in differently and work at remembering them then I could, using a variety of techniques including the mnemonic option. And I think there’s some value to improving your memory. But it feels like a lot of hard work to me for very little reward personally. So while I’m really curious whether more visual people have better natural memories, I’m not really concerned with exploring my personal memory too much more at this time.

Tags: learning, memory, minds, remembering

My bro with his dog, my sister with Rusty and my mom back there with Fuzzy who is trying to keep up in her older age

Yesterday I went out to a beautiful house by the ocean that is filled with life in many forms. My purpose there? To meet a family of six: four four-legged friends, a winged family member and a two-legged individual. I’ll be doing some petsitting for them and wanted to meet everyone and make sure that it would be a good match. It absolutely was. I already feel like I fit in with the family, a second caretaker to help out as needed but also a new friend. I’m sure there were many reasons that it was the right match but what really resonated with me was the uncanny resemblance that the two dogs of the family bear to the two dogs that I left behind when I moved here to the city 6 years ago.

First, why I petsit

Rusty, my Little Man

I’ve probably mentioned here a few times that I petsit on occasion. (I know that on my crochet blog I’ve shared photos of Betty, the cockapoo I watch, when I’ve crocheted clothing for her during my stays at her house.) I petsit in part for extra cash but that’s not the main reason that I do it. The real reason is because I really miss having pets in my life. I grew up in a family that always had more than one furry friend in the house at a time. I carried on that tradition myself when I moved out of my parents’ home, taking our young puppy Fuzzy and a newborn pup Rusty to my new home across town.

When I moved to San Francisco, there was just no way that I could bring them along. They were used to having huge yards with lots of space to roam. It wouldn’t have been fair to put them into an apartment even if I could find an apartment that would take me, my roommate and the two dogs and still be affordable for me as a young freelancer. So they stayed behind with Mom and Dad and I visit a few times a year.

Fuzzy with her “I didn’t do anything” look

Moving here was the first time that I didn’t have pets to care for. It was sad and lonely in some ways and really liberating in other ways. I hadn’t realized how much care and attention pets need until I didn’t have them anymore. It provided a great opportunity to really focus on myself and my needs and that has been beneficial. Now that I’ve done that for awhile, I’d like the responsibility of a pet again. (What I really want is a Shiba Inu puppy, after having fallen in love with one my brother was petsitting a few years ago.) But the apartment I am in (which I love for many reasons) doesn’t allow pets so that’s going to have to wait until I move again.

And that’s why I petsit. I get to enjoy the joy and responsibility and companionship of a few good furry friends again. And having learned how much of a responsibility a pet is, I am also happy that I am able to give someone else the chance to get away and focus on themselves now and then while knowing that their pets are in good hands.

Now, about Rusty and Fuzzy

We had a lot of dogs in my childhood, including Playful who was our wonderful Australian Shepherd that we had for the entirety of my childhood. But Rusty and Fuzzy were special because they were mine, not the family’s. I didn’t realize until I had them what unique personalities pets have and what an interesting dynamic can develop between two pets in the same family. There had always been the five of us humans in the house plus a couple of dogs and some cats and some other creatures and I was a kid the entire time so I didn’t really see any relationships that might have developed. The dogs were our friends, but I didn’t really think about their personalities much. Rusty and Fuzzy changed that, in part because I was alone with the two of them and in part because they had such intense, defined, curious personalities.

Fuzzy as a puppy

Fuzzy was my smart dog (despite her silly name which I have to blame on being young when we named her). She’s a big black lab/ chow mix with cute white paws and an intelligence that was usually fascinating and sometimes annoying. Annoying like the time when I realized that the reason Rusty was so skinny was because Fuzzy had figured out how to drag his dish and hers to the same spot and surround them both with her arms so that he couldn’t eat. Annoying like the long period of time when I kept trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with her leg only to eventually realize that she was faking a limp to get sympathy and special treatment. I kid you not. She even did something similar recently, at fifteen years of age. My mom and sister took the family’s other dog for a walk and Fuzzy isn’t in any shape to go anymore so she moped around the house while they got ready, acting bedraggled and huffing and puffing and on the verge of death. Then while they were gone she managed to sneak into my sister’s backpack and steal some food that she found in there, happily munching away at it with no breathing problems in sight when they returned. That’s my dog.

Rusty as a puppy

Rusty was my little cutie pie. He was adorable and lovable and fun. As he grew older, I called him my Little Man, because he got this regal older man look and yet somehow retained this little puppy attitude at the same time. I loved Rusty but there’s no nice way of putting it … he was dumb. Dopey is the word I usually use because he had these huge paws that he never quite grew into so he was a bit gangly. But not the brightest crayon in the box. Fuzzy would always figure out how to do things and he would always follow along after her, often not in the smartest way. Like how Fuzzy learned how to hook her paw’s nail into the screen door and open it so that she could come in and out from the front yard and Rusty eventually, after a long time, figured out that he could also get in that way but only by running full force into the door and butting it with his hard head so that it would spring open and he could dash in before it closed again. Ah, Rusty. It was a good thing, sometimes, that he was as dumb as he was. That dog could jump higher than any circus dog and if he had been any brighter then he might have figured out that if he moved up and over, instead of just up, he could easily jump the small fence that kept them in the yard. Luckily, he was never quite bright enough to get that idea and Fuzzy’s hip problems meant that she couldn’t do it to show him.

Oh Rusty. All of our girl dogs were spayed but Rusty was never neutered. He was forever trying to get into Fuzzy’s pants and she never let him. So he was super excited in his old age when my brother’s two girl dogs moved in for awhile. He immediately began trying to get some action. Sadly, my wonderful dumb little dog, did not know that the girl’s head is not what he was supposed to be aiming for.

The dynamic between them was always fun to see. Rusty brought out the fun side of Fuzzy. I don’t think that she would have been nearly so playful if it had just been me and her that moved out together, especially as she got older and the pain in her body got worse. But Rusty endlessly demanded that she play with him. And she did, until she’d get tired of his antics and warn him away and he’d get that “aw shucks” look and wander off until it was time to persistently return to get her attention again.

Rusty died last year, suddenly, without warning. I was shocked. Although in a way I’m kind of happy for him because if there’s any good way to go then it’s running around happily to the very moment when you suddenly aren’t anymore. I’ve been surprised that Fuzzy hasn’t succumbed to the same fate. As they got older, I always wondered how one would live without the other. She’s hanging in there, doing her own thing.

Old Memories, New Dogs

From the scrapbook: Fuzzy half-shaved after a surgery and Rusty ready to play

I think about Rusty and Fuzzy every now and then but I hadn’t thought about them this deeply until yesterday when I met these new dogs. They aren’t quite the same breed, but they are so similar to Rusty and Fuzzy in so many ways. The girl is a larger, black dog with white paws (like Fuzzy has) and hip problems (like Fuzzy has) and a loving face (like Fuzzy) and a smart mind (like Fuzzy). The boy is a smaller brown dog (like Rusty) with an adorable face that is half pup/ half old man (like Rusty) and this great lap dog attitude (like Rusty) but maybe not the smartest cupcake in the batch (aw, like Rusty). The boy could probably run and play endlessly but is held back a little bit by the girl’s handicaps; the girl benefits from pushing herself a little bit to keep up with the boy and get extra joy out of life.

Of course, there are differences between these dogs and my dogs, since each pet is unique and each set of animal dynamics is unique. Rusty was always my jealous dog. For all thirteen years of his life I couldn’t have a single moment with Fuzzy without Rusty coming in and sticking his nose in my face and his paw on my hand. I’ve only just met these new dogs so it’s hard to tell but I think if either of the two is jealous in this pair it’s the girl and it’s more because she sees the boy as “her baby” than because she needs the human attention desperately herself.

Fuzzy hogging a huge bone, circa 1999

And I’m sure that they have little quirks of their own that I’ll see as time goes on that are different from my dogs’ little quirks. Like how most people wouldn’t know that Fuzzy, my huge independent dog who rarely wanted me for much, would cower right on top of me in bed anytime there was a thunderstorm. It didn’t matter how old she got, how many storms she’d seen or how large of a space there was on the bed … she would run in, dig her way under the blanket and be right up on top of me until the storm ended. Recently we realized that her hearing is really going because there was a storm in Tucson and she didn’t notice.

As a petsitter, I obviously won’t know nearly as much about these new pets as I knew about mine living with them day in and day out. But I can tell that they have these wonderful personalities and it will be so fun to learn more about them and watch them grow and get to be a small part of their lives. I look forward to it all.

(And by the way, the family also has a beautiful bird and two gorgeous cats. I won’t go into all that right now but let me say that I’ve never met a Burmese cat before and I am now sold on the idea that if I ever get a cat again it’s going to be a Burmese! Oh and the human in their family is wonderful and warm, too.)

Tags: dogs, family, pets

Yesterday my brother and I were wandering around Union Square and stopping in to a few art galleries to see what was there. In one of them, Tangent, I became completely enamored with a painting of Venice that moved as you walked by it. I probably walked back and forth a hundred times watching it move. When you get up close you can see that there is a strange mathematically designed architectural shape that the painting is on top of and that’s what creates the ability for the painting to change perspective as you go by it or move in and out away from it.

I had my brother ask who the artist was because I loved it so much and the helpful guy at the gallery told us all about the artist, Patrick Hughes, who I’d never heard of before. Patrick Hughes is in his eighties and has been showing his work for over four decades. He is a UK artist whose work is only sold through three places right now including this gallery in San Francisco. He does large paintings and he also does lithographs. It turned out that there were several lithographs in the gallery, too, that we were able to take a look at.

One of the things that he’s well known for is his series of doors. There are several doors in a row against some type of background and as you walk from left to right the doors will open and close. It’s hard to explain this because it’s all about the way that the perspective of the piece tricks the mind into thinking that something is happening there that isn’t. When you get up close you can see the angles of the piece and how they make the different shapes that create this illusion but even when you know the trick of it your mind still sees it as though it’s moving. The guy at the gallery said he’s owned one Hughes painting for fourteen years and even though he knows it inside and out the painting still moves every time he looks at it and it never loses its magic because of it. I love the amazing skill that had to go into creating something like that but it’s that magic that really captures me.

The Venice painting was my favorite piece that we saw but a close runner up is a Picasso piece. Hughes created a visual of what looks like a museum installation with paintings on the walls and each of the paintings is a famous Picasso painting from various periods of his work. And the way that the walls of the “museum” are designed the piece moves back and forth as you walk by it. It’s stunning close up and still has that magic as you walk by. Apparently this piece developed from a series because artist Edward Hopper commented that Hughes was selling art and Hopper wasn’t so he said something about how Hughes should do a piece showing Hopper’s work in a museum setting and that’s what he did. That launched a whole style where he’s done that with the work of other artists like Picasso as well as Warhol.

I wish there was a way for me to show how amazing the artwork is. The gallery guy said that one of the reasons Hughes isn’t so well known to many people is precisely because you can’t capture the magic of the work in a photo so you have to see it in person to know how amazing he is. I’m so entranced by this guy now and want to learn everything about him. His website seems to have tons of information so I’m going to have to dig in when I get a free moment.

Tags: creative art, optical illusion, patrick hughes

Easter is my favorite San Francisco holiday. Sure, Halloween is fun but people dress in costume for Halloween everywhere. And Christmas is okay but it’s a bit lackluster without many light displays. But Easter … Easter in San Francisco is like Easter nowhere else and I love that about this city. Easter is The Big Hat Contest and The Hunky Jesus Contest at Dolores Park. It’s Big Wheel Races on steep streets (although I haven’t seen that since it moved off of Lombard Street a few years back). It’s different. And sunshine-filled. And bright with joy and silliness.

Tags: dolores park, easter, holidays, San Francisco

I’ve never actually done anything for Obscura Day but every year I think about it. Lots of things happen here in the Bay Area for this event so the options are varied. I’m not sure I’ll make it to anything this year either but I’m considering it.

What is Obscura Day?

“Obscura Day is an international celebration of unusual places. It is a day of expeditions, back room tours, & exploring hidden wonders in your own hometown.” In other words, it’s all about seeing a different side of some things in your area that you don’t always get to see. It allows you to be a tourist where you live which is something I try to do often here and is one of the things I love about San Francisco.

San Francisco Bay Area Obscura Day

Many of the 2012 events are already sold out but some of them are still open. Some of the options in the area include:

• After Dark Secret Tour of Alcatraz. This tour shows places that aren’t even shown on the late night tours. I actually think Alcatraz is a tourist attraction worth visiting.
• The Art Of Dark Scavenger Hunt at the De Young Museum. San Francisco has a surprising number of scavenger hunts in general.
• Play Old Pinball. There’s a great pinball museum in Alameda that’s fun anytime but for Obscura Day they’re opening up access to their oldest games. I recently played some old games like this at another pinball museum in Las Vegas.
• Zymoglyphic Museum Day. Frankly everything about going to this museum is unique!
• After Dark Under Old Sacramento. Okay, this one is kind of far from San Francisco but Old Town is kind of cute and it might be fun to explore the underground of it!

Tags: bay area, obscura day, San Francisco

I was up earlier than usual today. I typically wake up around nine these days. That’s varied a lot over the years. I’ve never been one to sleep in very late but I have been known to be an early bird in the past. One of the things that I love about working for myself is that I don’t have to wake or sleep on a clock so I can give my body what it needs in terms of a sleep schedule. I think that’s hugely important to both mental and physical wellbeing and feel lucky that I get to have that.

My morning routine these days isn’t quite what I want it to be. I used to wake up in the morning and do some edifying or inspiring reading. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that. I’ve gotten into a habit of turning on the TV first thing in the morning and catching up on whatever shows I missed from the night before. This morning it was Criminal Minds and American Idol.

While I’m watching, I catch up on my iPod games with friends. I play Words with Friends, which I’m good at but only win some of the time and I play Scramble with Friends, which I almost never get beat at. I keep the maximum number of games allowed going on both of those games at all times so I catch up with them all in the morning while the TV is on. And of course, I drink my first cup or two of coffee which is something I’ve done for as long as I remember.

It hasn’t been a bad routine. It suited me fine for awhile. I was really having some dragging energy healthwise and it was taking me time to get going in the morning. But lately I’ve had more energy. I’ve needed fewer naps. I’ve felt a little more upbeat. I attribute it to a combination of thyroid medication and iron supplements for anemia. Now that I’m starting to get more energy, I feel like I can start to have more productive or active mornings than I’ve had in awhile.

I’d like to exercise in the mornings but I have to figure out how to make that work. The thing is, I can’t exercise until after I’ve eaten because I always always feel sick if I do. And I am not someone who can pop out of bed and eat breakfast immediately on most days. So there has to be some sort of morning ritual that allows me to wake up, have my coffee, ease into the day a bit then eat my breakfast and exercise. And I don’t know quite how doing all of that before getting started on work will work out realistically with a writing schedule.

But it’s something worth figuring out I think. So I’m getting on top of it, starting by turning off the TV now and at least doing a little personal blogging here before I move on to other things. That could be part of this new routine. We’ll see.

I’ve been given the opportunity to give a review of the website for Midland Display Products, a site that sells tools for people who do trade show displays. For full disclosure, I’m being paid for my review but the review itself is an honest one.

About Midland Display

Midlands Display has been in business for more than two decades selling products to help trade show sellers improve their displays. This is an important job. After all, without a good display, you’re never going to sell your items at trade shows no matter how good the items are. This company offers everything from table top displays to hanging banners. They also offer a free booth design service to help you create your own displays in different sizes.

5 Things I Love About This Site

1. They offer a “tip of the day”. It’s designed to give you ideas for improving your trade show displays. I think this is smart and helpful and isn’t common on sites like these so I love it.
2. They include a Pantone color chart on the site. This is a tool that a lot of people use when designing their displays so it’s nice that they offer it on site instead of requiring you to go look for one yourself.
3. It’s a fast and responsive site. There is a lot of information here about a lot of products and it’s tough to keep a big site like that working quickly so it’s nice that they do a good job here.
4. They offer a live chat feature through the site. I love the option to ask quick questions via online chat and appreciate that they offer this.
5. The search feature includes a max price option. It’s good to be able to sort through what’s on the site but is still within your budget.

If I Could Change The Site

I think the site is a good one but there are always things that can be improved on any site. Here’s what I’d change if I was hired to improve the site:

• A sort by price feature. The “max price” tool in the search area helps with this but I always like a good Amazon-style sort by high or low price feature.
• Pages that show recommended displays for different types of sellers. For example, something that shows the top sellers to craft vendors or the best displays for a consumer electronics business. What would be the best option for me in my niche? I’ll note that on their home page they do indicate this a bit. For example, they say that the Trade Show Truss is “a choice if looking for a modern, techy appearing trade show truss display.” But I’d love a more detailed showing of this.
• Some video of displays. I think video is a top feature on sites these days and I’d love to see 360 views of the displays in action.

What Qualifies Me To Do This Review

I thought you might want to know what makes me feel qualified to do this review. It’s a basic website review and I do look at a lot of websites so that’s a start. But honestly I’ve actually done a ton of writing about trade show displays and trade show apps in the past so I’ve looked at many sites like these and that’s why I felt qualified to give my two cents.

What do you think are the most useful tools for a trade show display?

Tags: midlands display products, trade shows

I’ve read a few books lately that I really liked. And I’ve started a few others that I couldn’t get into at all.

Books I’ve Liked Lately

The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt

I absolutely loved this memoir by Jon-Jon Goulian. He’s an androgynous male who writes about the experience of figuring out what that meant for him and adjusting to the larger world around himself in the face of it. Although at first glance it might seem like a memoir with a limited niche (how many people truly struggle with sincere androgyny, after all?) it’s actually got a wide appeal in my opinion because ultimately what it’s about is figuring out how to learn who you are and how to fit into the world around you. That’s something that we all have to figure out. The author’s incisive, sometimes self-deprecating, wit actually had me laughing aloud which I can’t say I do often when reading a book at home alone. Loved it.

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

This is another story about finding and defining yourself but this one is a young adult novel. I’m not even really sure why I picked it up but I ended up kind of liking it. It’s about a transgender teenage boy during the stage when he’s beginning to dress as a woman. I think what made me like it, though, is that it’s told from the perspective of his younger sister who is the only one at first to know the boy’s secret. This unique perspective made an otherwise “whatever” book a lot more interesting to me.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

This is another young adult book and to be honest the only reason I picked it up is because I needed something to read while I was at the airport and the selection at the newsstand in my terminal in LA was really limited. I ended up liking it, though. It’s about an era in which all of society is divided into five factions that each values a certain virtue (like amity or candor) and at the age of sixteen the members need to pick the faction that they want to be a part of. It’s the story of one main character who makes that choice. So I guess I’m on a theme these days of reading these “how do I define myself?” books!

I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World

This is a collection of fictional monologues about the fiery passion and difficult lives of teenage girls. It touches on topics both small and large. I didn’t like every single part of it. And it’s something that I think would be a lot more fun to see performed on a stage than read in a book. That said, I liked the gist of it and enjoyed reading pieces of it here and there. It was tough being a teenage girl and this book reminded me to celebrate and honor that toughness.

Books I Couldn’t Get Into

Summer Friends by Holly Chamberlin

I picked up this book because I wanted a light summery novel to read on the plane to LA. I actually did read the entire thing so I can’t say I totally didn’t get into it. But I’m pretty indifferent to it. It’s about two friends who were close in high school and then lost touch for twenty years and now they’re becoming friends again. It’s about their journeys through lives, the differences in the choices they made, etc. It’s not a bad book just not exceptional for me.

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War by Hal Vaughan

This is the story of Coco Chanel and I really, really want to read it because it covers a “secret” period of Chanel’s during the WWII era. It sounds intriguing. However, I can’t seem to get more than a few pages into it before I get bored. It’s too heavy-handed or dense or something. I may try again. We’ll see.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

This is the true story of someone who underwent the terrible experience of being kidnapped and then held captive for eighteen years. She was treated horrible, had two children in captivity … it’s a powerful story. And I wanted to learn more about it but I just couldn’t get into the writing. I seem to be really restless with reading lately and if something doesn’t capture me immediately then I move on to something else. I think I’d rather see a documentary on this one than read the book.

Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss, and Moving Forward

This is a book by the wife of Patrick Swayze that shares what it was like to spend twenty months with him undergoing intense cancer treatment and passing away. I just tried starting it this morning and I couldn’t get into it. It actually seems like a good book but for some reason I just can’t get the cheesy Dirty Dancing Swayze out of my head and it makes me not like the story that much. I think I’ll try again before returning it to the library, though, because the bias seems weird and sill.

So, that’s what I’m reading. What’s on your nightstand?

Tags: books, reading

I spent the beginning of this week down in the LA area with my two siblings. It was wonderful. The weather was mostly sunny and good. We took some no-computer time camping out at Channel Islands. We laughed a lot, because that’s what we do when we’re together.

On the first day that I arrived my brother was working so my sister and I mostly hung out at Venice Beach/ Santa Monica. A friend of hers was with us and we took lots of pictures and he filmed a music video and we soaked up the sun.

The next day we got up and drove down to the boat dock. We went to Santa Cruz, the largest of the Channel Islands. The boat ride took about an hour and was pretty nice with the best part being when we saw a pod of orca whales which are apparently rare in the area. When we got to the island, we immediately saw a fox. There’s a certain type of fox unique to the island and there are no predators there so they are very bold. We ended up seeing quite a few during our trip. We set up camp and then we went for an eight mile hike to the top of the inner ridge where we could see most of the way around the island. The first stretch of the hike was tough but the rest was moderate.

When we got back to camp it was still kind of early but it was also starting to get cold and no fires are allowed there so we ended up getting into our sleeping bags and getting into the tent. The tent was a new three person tent that I’d just purchased from REI and turned out to be a good one – easy to set up, kept us pretty warm. We talked for awhile, fell asleep and then got up at different times throughout the morning. After eating breakfast and taking down the camp, we went for another hike, this time along the coast. It was really pretty out there.

After that we went down to where we’d have to get the boat again. I napped while they went swimming in the cold water. Then I read a book while they napped. Then we took the boat back to the mainland. There was a group of dozens of school kids on the boat with us so it was crowded but we got seats inside this time (before we were on top) and it was a smooth ride. When we got back to the mainland we picked up a few cheesy souvenirs. Then we headed back to LA where we got Vietnamese food then went back to my brother’s place and watched TV.

My brother had to go back to work in the morning. My sister and I ended up shopping around Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade and got lunch before she had to take me to the airport. We left really early because I wasn’t sure what LA traffic would be like. We hit some slow parts but I still got to the airport early which was lucky because my flight had been delayed til about 2 am but I was able to hop on the flight before mine and get home. I usually have terrible luck with planes so that was a happy change.

The best part of the trip was just getting to spend that time with my brother and sister. I was able to really appreciate in the moment what a wonderful time this is in our lives. We are all adults with enough money to go on little trips together. We are all doing pretty well in our lives, all on the cusp of bigger things but content enough where we are. None of us has kids or partners right now so it’s just us. It’s lovely and wonderful and I treasure it.

Tags: channel islands, los angeles, sibling vacation

I didn’t do too well with my plan to watch classic romance films in February. I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the first time and loved it and then didn’t really watch any others. That’s okay. For March I decided to go with a film category that it is one of my favorites: documentaries.

So far I’ve watched:

and

Grizzly Man is the true story of Timothy Treadwell who went and lived up close and personal with Alaska’s wild bears for thirteen summers in a row but that ended tragically when he and his girlfriend were eaten alive. It’s a traditional documentary that combines Treadwell’s own footage with narration of the story and interviews with those people who were involved in some way.

Awful Normal reminds me a bit more of some of the experimental documentaries I watched a little of in January. It’s the true story of two adult women who were molested as girls by a family friend and their journey to go confront him to get closure. There are some odd film moments such as when they turn the camera off at the man’s request but keep the audio rolling so you only see a black screen. All in all, I felt like it was a powerful documentary with truth at the heart of it.

Tags: awful normal, documentary, films, grizzly man