I've neglected the Vox Question of the Day for some time now - oh, yeah, I have a Vox blog - it was a gift from Flippy. I don't know how often I'll update it because I mainly did it so I could read and comment on my pals' Vox blogs but anyway, the point is that I haven't answered the Question of the Day several days in a row, so I thought I'd do them all in one megaBloggerpost.
What is your favorite way to relieve stress?
As many of you probably know, a bubble bath! I am the bubble bath QUEEN - sometimes with a book, sometimes not; sometimes with a glass of Merlot, sometimes not but always with candles and my bath pillow. Although they don't always turn out quite the way I'd planned...I love bubble baths redolent with fragrant oils and luxurious moisturizers and steamy hot water. I love bubble baths more than...the microwave!!! Bubble baths are wonderful, and so much cheaper than therapy.
What is your favorite children's movie?
Hmm...I'd like to say The Princess Bride, but I'm not sure that's a children's movie so much as an everyone movie. I like the music in The Little Mermaid and I like everything in Lilo and Stitch. "Blue punch buggy! No punch-backs! Stupidhead!"
What's your favorite song to sing karaoke-style? If you don't have one, why not?
I don't karaoke, because that's In Public. I don't sing well at all - I mean it's downright scary - and even if I did, I hate calling attention to myself. But maybe this counts: on days when work has been just awful, everything's going wrong at once and we're about to fling ourselves screaming from the 10th floor, either Sheila or I might call an Atomic Dawg Meeting. Then all work ceases, all phones, faxes and e-mails go unanswered for the 3 - 4 minutes it takes to dance around the office to George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and we must sing our assigned parts. Sheila has the "why must I feel like that/why must I chase the cat" part and I do the "bow wow wow yippie-oh, yippie-ay" part. Once we got our salesweasel to join in, and it was great because it was a stretch for him - you know white boys can't dance. And no, it isn't that much fun being caught by The Boss, especially because he isn't angry so much as deeply, deeply puzzled. Dawgcatcher, y'all.
If you could write a book about anything, what would it be about?
I'd really like to write books like Terry Pratchett or Jasper Fforde, in which they create a whole alternate universe with its own rules, idiosyncracies and funny parallels to ours, and a pantheon of beloved characters. I don't think I'm that imaginative, though. I enjoy writing about everyday people doing everyday things, and trying to find the humour in that - which isn't all that difficult, sometimes.
What was the last game you played?
Hmm...that I played online? Yahoo's Text Twist. That I played on the PS2? Katamari Damacy. A board or card game that I played in real life? I honestly don't remember.
What books are on your nightstand?
(1) Black Coffee Blues, by Henry Rollins, which I'm enjoying but reading sporadically as it can be rather intense and sometimes depressing. I know! Henry Rollins, the former lead singer of Black Flag, the opinionated performer of spoken word shows, a man who lost his best friend to a horrible, senseless crime (RIP, Joe Cole) being angsty! I was shocked, too. So, while I think it's interesting reading and at times truly great writing, I can only take it in small doses.
(2) Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde, the last in the Thursday Next detective series. While there are some shortcomings, the series as a whole is definitely worth reading. If I occasionally get impatient with the characters and/or storyline, there are enough jokes that reach to the sublime, making it all worthwhile.
(3) Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This is, so far, a very well-written, interesting, entertaining book. This is the first time I can recall that my complaint about a book is a physical one, the reason I left off this to read Something Rotten and another novel no longer on the nightstand...the type is SMALL. I'm not trying to be funny. It's over 1000 pages long but it's set in teeny tiny mouse-type and even worse? So far, which I'm up to page 109, about one-third of the narrative is footnotes. These are fictional, explanatory and diverting footnotes, yes, but as with most footnotes, they're smaller than the 'action' text. Many a night I wanted to read further in this book but after a day of squinting at computer screens and columns of numbers and such, I simply didn't have the stamina.
Okay, so that's a bunch of questions answered. Yay.
What is your favorite way to relieve stress?
As many of you probably know, a bubble bath! I am the bubble bath QUEEN - sometimes with a book, sometimes not; sometimes with a glass of Merlot, sometimes not but always with candles and my bath pillow. Although they don't always turn out quite the way I'd planned...I love bubble baths redolent with fragrant oils and luxurious moisturizers and steamy hot water. I love bubble baths more than...the microwave!!! Bubble baths are wonderful, and so much cheaper than therapy.
What is your favorite children's movie?
Hmm...I'd like to say The Princess Bride, but I'm not sure that's a children's movie so much as an everyone movie. I like the music in The Little Mermaid and I like everything in Lilo and Stitch. "Blue punch buggy! No punch-backs! Stupidhead!"
What's your favorite song to sing karaoke-style? If you don't have one, why not?
I don't karaoke, because that's In Public. I don't sing well at all - I mean it's downright scary - and even if I did, I hate calling attention to myself. But maybe this counts: on days when work has been just awful, everything's going wrong at once and we're about to fling ourselves screaming from the 10th floor, either Sheila or I might call an Atomic Dawg Meeting. Then all work ceases, all phones, faxes and e-mails go unanswered for the 3 - 4 minutes it takes to dance around the office to George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and we must sing our assigned parts. Sheila has the "why must I feel like that/why must I chase the cat" part and I do the "bow wow wow yippie-oh, yippie-ay" part. Once we got our salesweasel to join in, and it was great because it was a stretch for him - you know white boys can't dance. And no, it isn't that much fun being caught by The Boss, especially because he isn't angry so much as deeply, deeply puzzled. Dawgcatcher, y'all.
If you could write a book about anything, what would it be about?
I'd really like to write books like Terry Pratchett or Jasper Fforde, in which they create a whole alternate universe with its own rules, idiosyncracies and funny parallels to ours, and a pantheon of beloved characters. I don't think I'm that imaginative, though. I enjoy writing about everyday people doing everyday things, and trying to find the humour in that - which isn't all that difficult, sometimes.
What was the last game you played?
Hmm...that I played online? Yahoo's Text Twist. That I played on the PS2? Katamari Damacy. A board or card game that I played in real life? I honestly don't remember.
What books are on your nightstand?
(1) Black Coffee Blues, by Henry Rollins, which I'm enjoying but reading sporadically as it can be rather intense and sometimes depressing. I know! Henry Rollins, the former lead singer of Black Flag, the opinionated performer of spoken word shows, a man who lost his best friend to a horrible, senseless crime (RIP, Joe Cole) being angsty! I was shocked, too. So, while I think it's interesting reading and at times truly great writing, I can only take it in small doses.
(2) Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde, the last in the Thursday Next detective series. While there are some shortcomings, the series as a whole is definitely worth reading. If I occasionally get impatient with the characters and/or storyline, there are enough jokes that reach to the sublime, making it all worthwhile.
(3) Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This is, so far, a very well-written, interesting, entertaining book. This is the first time I can recall that my complaint about a book is a physical one, the reason I left off this to read Something Rotten and another novel no longer on the nightstand...the type is SMALL. I'm not trying to be funny. It's over 1000 pages long but it's set in teeny tiny mouse-type and even worse? So far, which I'm up to page 109, about one-third of the narrative is footnotes. These are fictional, explanatory and diverting footnotes, yes, but as with most footnotes, they're smaller than the 'action' text. Many a night I wanted to read further in this book but after a day of squinting at computer screens and columns of numbers and such, I simply didn't have the stamina.
Okay, so that's a bunch of questions answered. Yay.
3 Comments:
FAMILY! YAY! This is soooo kewl! I picked up "JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL" on impulse and thoroughly enjoyed it (in spite of the teeny tiny mouse type-using my reading glasses. I enjoyed it so much that I recommended it to Bo and Sarah when they were here for his birthday...they'd already read it! So I put my copy aside to offer to you!
(singing)"WE ARE FAMILY!"
heh heh
BTW, I also bought 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' which I will pass along to you,too.
Love,
momma
PS-could you possibly have rebroken the ankle? Same one?
By
Anonymous, at 10:22 AM
"Could [I] possibly have rebroken the ankle"?!? C'mon, Mom - look who you're asking! Any weirdness is not only POSSIBLE, but downright likely. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I've been striken with and recovered from tuberculosis without even noticing, because it hit during allergy season.
By
Helly, at 8:04 PM
Love the "Atomic Dawg" part.
By
Anonymous Me, at 10:47 PM
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