Summer Reading List

Since I miss the long-gone primary school days of required summer reading, I decided to make a list up for myself (this time based on my own interests rather than some educational board requirements):

• [X] The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil, Nikolai Gogol
• [X] The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman
• [X] A Granta Confessional, (anthology)
  
• [X] Moomin Volume 1, Tove Jansson
• [X] Moomin Volume 2, Tove Jansson
  
• [X] I Was Told There'd be Cake, Sloan Crosley
• [X] Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
• [X] One! Hundred! Demons!, Lynda Barry
• [X] Atmospheric Disturbances, Rivka Galchen (read 1/2 of this book)
  
• [X] Put the Book Back on the Shelf: A Belle and Sebastian Anthology
• [X] The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
• [X] Chicken with Plums, Marjane Satrapi
• [X] Embroderies, Marjane Satrapi
• [X] an absurd amount of zines!
  
• [X] Mome
• [X] Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Dan Savage
• [ ] The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes, McSweeney's editors
  
• [X] Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category, edited by Dave Eggers, Keven Shay, Lee Epstein, John Warner, Suzanne Kleid
  
• [X] McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. Issue Number 13, edited by C. Ware
• [ ] New Haven, Daniel Clowes
• [ ] Beleiver Book of Writers Talking to Writers, edited by Vendela Vida (interesting name meaning...)
• [ ]The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, Christopher Hitchens
• [ ] The Autism Book, S. Jhoanna Robledo, Dawn Ham-Kucharski
• [X] Ghost World, Daniel Clowes
• [ ] Dicks and Deedees, Jamie Hernandez
• [X] Christina and Charles, Austin English

Earlier Ramblings

I found some musings written on the back of a receipt about a month ago:

There is something incredible about living in the city. I love the pace of life, cars, bikes and pedestrians. Although we may be criticized for misplaced values and unreachable goals, in the city one feels destined for something good, something entertaining and impressive. We try our best to be sophisticated, educated and trendy. We vote as consistently as conservatives, though at the opposite end of the spectrum. We look down on so-called "independent" politicians. Make up your damn mind, already.

We long to quote facts historical, socio-cultural or mathematical and not only sound, but also be profoundly intelligent. Eventually some of us settle for more traditional ways of living, yet others put a spin on this and come up with something entirely their own (although they arrive at it simultaneously with and in an identical way to others).

Life is good here, and we adore our brick buildings and farmers' markets that remind us of an earlier, separate time without cementing us in it.

A Summer Evening

This is an interesting process that I am late in beginning, and it feels as if in starting this blog I am somehow graduating from livejournal. Now is as good a time as any, I suppose.

This past weekend has been a glorious mini-vacation, although not without its complications. On Saturday, I went to the PSU Farmer's Market with my former boyfriend, bought a coffee, loaf of walnut bread, Gouda cheese and fresh organic blueberries. The picnic was nice, and it was good to do emotional reorganization. An unexpected change in plans - the end of a two year relationship that we had naïvely thought would last forever - has allowed me to reconnect with my nomadic, highly artistic self (although this is a pompous and idealistic statement) and this is the positive side.

I moved on to the Portland Art Museum on my own and was really impressed with Klaus Moje's glasswork, which is normally something that seems so seperate from the sculptures and oil paintings that are meant to be viewed in museums rather than sold. There were also several recent acquisitions that were intriguing and very well-done, such as the old etchings that illustrated original copies of Goethe's works and included the old German. In the evening I went to a concert put together by Hush Records with Laura Gibson, Loch Lommond and Nick Jaina. This was really remarkable and there was something about how the lighting and music went together that made it a spectacular performance for all of the musicians. It did help that all of Nick Jaina's band was very attractive and dapperly-dressed.

On Sunday I witnessed the Museum of Contemporary Craft's PDX Block Party, which was very fun and included some great galleries. Later I headed up to 23rd with a friend and enjoyed a latté while writing a letter and chatting about philosophical things. Afterwards we headed to Trader Joes for picnic materials (two picnics in one weekend, oh I am spoiled!) which included: black tea, naan, tomato basil hummus, dried mango and mochi. While eating at Couch Park, we listened to the audiobook version of John Hodgeman's The Areas of My Expertise. Overall, this weekend was really great and I felt insanely productive at work today.

Things can only get better from this point on. Munich is always on my mind.