twicketface

Two books I bought on whims didn't turn out to be gems, but it was good to try new authors, I guess.

Allegro, Ariel Dorfman

This is billed as a mystery about Johann Sebastian Bach's death that is solved by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is actually a hellaciously overwrought, needlessly wordy, and tedious meditation on art and how suffering affects art. There is no mystery, just page after page of absurdly intricate prose. I assume Dorfman was paid by the word. I gave it one star on Goodreads because there's a playlist at the end. That's the best part of the book.

The Nakano Thrift Shop, Hiromi Kawakami (translated by Allison Markham Powell)

The premise was alluring--a story centered on three people who work in a thrift shop in a Tokyo suburb. I did enjoy reading a Japanese novel that was about ordinary people. There are no murders, no fantasy elements, no wealthy characters. Nakano is the family name of the owner, and he employs two people, Hitomi and Takeo. His sister, Masayo, is also frequently at the shop (though she has her own business nearby and is an artist). Like a lot of workplace ensemble stories, there's a tendency for the characters to overshare and become overinvolved in each other's lives. Nakano shares details about sex with his girlfriend that I'd be embarrassed to share with a close friend, let alone co-workers I supervise. Hitomi and Takeo attempt to date despite not having anything in common. The dates are deeply awkward, yet somehow they progress to having sex, and later Hitomi decides that she is in love with Takeo. Maybe I was just too tired to appreciate this author's particular brand of quirkiness. I gave it two stars, mostly because the writing didn't make me want to bleach my eyeballs.

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

I knew this would be an emotionally draining read, but I didn't realize how draining it would be. I read it quickly, over Thanksgiving weekend, because I absolutely did not want to linger on it. Whitehead is a terrific writer, but the brutality made my eyes water and my stomach heave. I will not be watching the movie adaptation.

christopher575

For many years now, I speak out against compulsory gift giving a lot when Christmas rolls around. It just sickens me to see what's supposed to be a happy time of year turn miserable for so many people because they feel obligated to buy a bunch of things nobody needs and they often go into debt doing it. Personally, I've called "gift truce" with everyone except Garrett and his mom.

I wasn't originally planning to participate in my YMCA work party white elephant gift exchange last night, but when I was shopping for food to bring in the morning, something jumped out at me. Near the registers I found a great big Hickory Farms display! When I was a kid, Hickory Farms was a shopping mall staple.

Watch on YouTube

A lot of malls in the US have closed down and, while some are still busy, many that remain are dying or being redeveloped. I was about to say there probably aren't any Hickory Farms stores like you see in the commercial above left, but I just searched and discovered there are a few in the area! I was unlikely to ever stumble upon one, so it was cool that I found their stuff at WinCo. Good food is an easy exception to my disdain for gifts, especially in a situation like a white elephant where there's a good chance it'll end up with someone who really wants it.

And boy did it ever last night. The woman who opened it practically shrieked while laughing about it. Turns out she got summer sausage the last two years in a row AND she's from Ohio and didn't know until I told her that Hickory Farms was a nationwide business. Super funny.

I messed up my own white elephant experience in a big way. The hope when you draw numbers is that you'll get the highest one you can so you have the best chance of stealing the gift you want most. I went up to the tree and grabbed one as number 5, but someone else said she had number 5. I misread my slip and was actually 15 out of 16, so I could have had the second to last draw. Nobody wanted to steal my peppermint tea, silly mug, and weird socks. Garrett took the tea and I left the other stuff in the bag for now.

christopher575

I've had carrots, celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, and a pickle with almost every breakfast and lunch for years. Not sure exactly when I started, but shortly after we moved here in 2014 I started keeping crudite around a lot. There used to be more variety, with a single batch having things like carrots, zucchini, three colors of peppers, and cucumber. As is often the case, it got simpler as time went on. Even the carrots themselves got simpler. I used to buy multicolor ones and peel them myself and cut them up, then I switched to baby carrots, and finally petite cut whenever I could find them.

But today's the first Monday shopping trip in ages that I didn't buy any carrots or celery because they just haven't been good lately. No way I'm giving up the tomatoes and pickles, they're just so consistently good. My favorites are red grape tomatoes and Grillo's fresh dill pickles, by the way. I looked around at both stores I went to this morning and no other vegetables were jumping out at me. A big part of why carrots and celery became the default is they can last a week packed in water, but I wouldn't do that with other vegetables and would probably have to do a smaller batch twice a week.

I might do fruit instead. An apple tastes fantastic with a pickle and a banana is always satisfying, and neither needs any prep so they're good to always have around. In fact, we usually do! And there's really no fighting over bananas because I prefer mine much less ripe than Garrett does.

A side effect of all this is that I'm really craving other vegetable dishes. I'd love to make our old favorite fennel salad or cook up a side of onions, zucchini, and squash. I guess spending too much time eating the most boring vegetables possible was a bad idea!

christopher575

I haven't uploaded any new user icons on LJ or DW in ages but Ed Cook just sent me a screenshot I had to use.

denise posting in

dw_news

Hello, friends! It's about to be December again, and you know what that means: the fact I am posting this actually before December 1 means

karzilla reminded me about the existence of linear time again. Wait, no -- well, yes, but also -- okay, look, let me back up and start again: it's almost December, and that means it's time for our annual December holiday points bonus.

The standard explanation: For the entire month of December, all orders made in the Shop of points and paid time, either for you or as a gift for a friend, will have 10% of your completed cart total sent to you in points when you finish the transaction. For instance, if you buy an order of 12 months of paid time for $35 (350 points), you'll get 35 points when the order is complete, to use on a future purchase.

( The fine print and much more behind this cut! )

Thank you, in short, for being the best possible users any social media site could possibly ever hope for. I'm probably in danger of crossing the Sappiness Line if I haven't already, but you all make everything worth it.

On behalf of Mark, Jen, Robby, and our team of awesome volunteers, and to each and every one of you, whether you've been with us on this wild ride since the beginning or just signed up last week, I'm wishing you all a very happy set of end-of-year holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and hoping for all of you that your 2026 is full of kindness, determination, empathy, and a hell of a lot more luck than we've all had lately. Let's go.

microbie

What a terrible year, but I feel that I should get in the spirit of today's holiday. [This year's holiday card will not exhort you to be merry, joyful, or happy.] I am grateful for the following:

Brent
friends near and (mostly) far
music book club
live music, especially my favorite band in the world's semi-annual appearances
financially able to buy new books at independent bookstores
a used record and book store within walking distance of our house
a primary care physician within walking distance of our house
rainbow turkeys
eating lunch with co-workers
I'm the supervisor for some really good people
a boss who seems to respect me even though she's overworked and doesn't remember half the things I tell her or she tells me

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Reading

November reading

The white elephant in the room

A minor but big change

Icon origins

Look! I remembered to post before December started this year!

merci

Profile

December 2024

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags