Rockin' out

REO Speedwagon is coming to Indiana.

Sunday, October 7th, they'll be at the Emens Auditorium at Ball State.

Who's in with me?

Reading

I've been wanting to read this book for a year.

I first saw it last August when I was birthday shopping for my sister-in-law. Intrigued by the cover initially, after reading the back of the jacket, I knew that both she and I would enjoy this novel.

To be honest, I can't remember if I bought it for her. But it has been on my radar ever since. My sister bought it, then, sometime within the year, and lent it to me after reading it herself. It's been gathering dust for months on the little rickety bookshelf between the dressers in my bedroom. I've wanted to read it, since having possession of it, but it's easy to pass over on that tiny, low, out-of-the-way bookshelf. Plus, Harry Potter and his gang side-swiped me mid-March and have usurped all my literary time since.

Last week, I began a list of "Things to Do" for the remainder of my August and the subsequent September. The defining factor of items on this list, what separates them from the many, similar lists I keep at work, is that this list is for fun. I make lists of what to do for fun. In my free time. (Does that somehow diminish the "free" part? Jury's out.)

In an ambitious gesture, I included 3 book titles on the list. What with school starting and thus working late, small group, and some other yet-to-be-defined activities, reading three books in a month seemed impossible even as I wrote it. Diligently, however, the very next day, I picked up The Memory Keeper's Daughter. A tale of loss, emptiness, longing and endless searching. A story of hopelessness, and yet, moments of redemption and all of it told in such beautiful language. An astounding work of art, this novel. Recommended to all.

It's 6 am

and I have been up for a few hours, having gone to bed at midnight. The original incessant itching of my legs has resulted in hives in miniature all over them. I don't know how to make the itching stop. I'm kind of going insane.

I'm tired and yet wide awake. I tried sleeping on the couch to no avail. I can't shut my mind off; I keep running through work scenarios as I lay there with my eyes closed.

This sucks. All I want is a full night of sleep. I can't remember the last time that happened.
No hives. No problem-solving. Nothing but unencumbered, uninterrupted 8 to 9 hours of sleep.

I knew August was going to be busy, but I was not prepared for the exhaustion that would accompany said busy-ness.

In the past 10 working days (well, including this week), I will have been in workshops, conferences, or meetings for 8 hours on 8 of those days. That gave me two in my office to try to come up with an agenda and handout for, and further organizing of, a training session that I'll be giving next week to new student employees, which I was informed about this week. Not to mention the 10 other items on my list of things to do. But, alas, no time.

Classes start on Tuesday, and I'm grateful, despite the somewhat stressful additions that have been added to my job this semester. I'll be grateful to have new faces to look at, more people in the library daily than I've seen this entire summer put together. And some old friends are returning; I must say, I've missed them.

Cheers to a new semester, new faces, new chances, new trials, new successes, and hopefully, some new hobbies. I'm fresh out of ideas!

Where're my shoes, Ma...I'm going Shoeless.

After attempting to run this evening, and finding that my toes, arches, ankles, and other portions of my feet were cramping to a most painful degree (in which I was limping home), I said

-- Not again! I will not run in these shoes again!

The reason I had to get web access at home was for such times as this. I had to answer the question: where can I find my Brooks Adrenaline GTS running shoes?

I've worn these tennis shoes for probably 3 or 4 years exclusively. I will not run in another pair of shoes. And the GTS has had several iterations. Versions 4, 5, and 6 (twice over) are all ones that I have tried. And loved. Each version is better than the previous one.

I found out online before driving 35 minutes to a store, that a new iteration has come out this year; #7. It has a new insole and some other features. But it's the same shoe; beautiful and comfy on my extra-wide bunion-ridden feet. I also found online that the Muncie Mall had it in stock, whereas the Marion one did not.

As you can see, the seventh version is subtly pretty, like all the others I've had. The colors vary between each design, but they're always tasteful. No blaring, glaring or garish colors. This is the one I bought tonight - saving nearly 25%. I love back-to-school sales!

Movies

Watching movies, I've realized, is a brilliant hobby for a single person. You can watch anything you want, only needing to match the movie to your own mood, not the moods of an entire group of people. Having friends around is also great, because, when you need to, you can watch movies with them, too.

Liz, Chalupa, and I saw Bourne Ultimatum this afternoon.

Thrilling up until the last few minutes. Not too many car chase scenes (as Liz indicated, get old pretty quickly). Tons of intense, near-miss moments between would-be assassins and their escaping prey. Not everyone was so lucky, as always must happen in these types of movies.

Highly recommended.

Also, watched Veronica Guerin last night. Very sad, true story about an Irish journalist from Dublin who was murdered by drug gangsters in the mid-90's. Also recommended.

List of movies currently in theaters that I want to see:
Becoming Jane
Chuck and Larry
Hairspray
Harry Potter (for the second time)
Ratatouille
Stardust

Really creepy

It's not like I watch too many scary movies or anything...but some situations, some people, some circumstances just give me that feeling. The one where I know something is amiss. My gut tells me.

I was standing at my kitchen sink, in front of the window, this evening, cleaning up after baking some banana bread. A car drives extremely slowly past. Stops at my mailbox and backs up.

I walked out of the room, stood in behind my closed front all-wood door, talking to myself about how creepy it was that the car had backed up. I listened for the crunching of gravel (our neighborhood is quite silent in the evenings). I stayed put for two whole minutes, which seemed an eternity. I peeked out of the blinds and saw nothing, so returned to my kitchen sink. Thirty seconds later, the car comes slowly past going the opposite direction. It had turned around in the U-drive next to our duplex. But it had taken far too long to simply drive around it. The car had seemed to have waited or something.

I can't express how creeped out I am. Maybe it was Liz's recounting of the meth-head break-ins a few towns over. Scary stuff, because you know those people are literally losing their minds. No telling what they'd do.

Needless to say, I made sure the doors were locked and then...well...stayed away from the windows.

What happens when we all get together

Our extended family is huge. And when we get together, which we do nearly six times a year (on a good year), crazy things can happen.

For instance, Elliott was trying a new style. What do you think?

Here is Patrick - who was quite the trooper and yet required a lot of attention and entertainment.

Toby - aka The Gerber Baby - and his grandma. He's the sweetest baby ever!

Myself and Ava, Sara and Phil's dear little tyke. She's the most laid back baby ever.

And, as you can imagine, there ornery girls are up to no good! That's not true, but they are here lounging in my house, as we had a mini Gottschalk family reunion on Sunday, since Leslie (far right) was visiting Indiana for the first time in six months. I'll see her next at Thanksgiving in Arizona. The rest of them will catch up with her at Christmas, I think.

Forgetful Me

Um....last week, I saw the most amazingly brilliant show, and I didn't mention anything about it.

August 1st, Stephanie and I (this is my cousin, people) took a day trip to Chicago to see Wicked, the musical.

Go, every last one of you. If you get the chance. GO!

I thought the book was amazing. The musical was better. Totally different. The theatre - Oriental Theatre - was gorgeous, too. But there were intense people working there who warned everybody that no pictures could be taken in the theatre itself. In the lobby - that was okay. Not that theatre.

Some international bandwagons are worth joining

I finished the seventh and final Harry Potter book in a few days. I couldn't stop reading it. On some level, I wanted to read it instead of hanging out with my sister, whom I hadn't seen in 6 months. She won, in the end, which is only right.

Since finishing, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Every day glimpses of scenes or phrases from the book flit across my mind; sometimes I even dream about it.

I just saw that "The seventh installment of the Harry Potter saga is the fastest-selling book in history, publishers say, with some 11 million English-language copies sold in the first 24 hours."* 11 million. In one day.

I saw a kid in Wal-Mart yesterday who was waiting in line with the book. The loving way in which he handled it, the somewhat euphoric grin on his face mirrored my own feelings of first laying hands on what would turn out to be the best book in the most well-written young adult series that I've encountered.

Immediately after finishing the final pages, I wanted to start reading the whole series over again, just to see how well J.K. tied characters, plots, and themes together throughout all of the books. I've resisted this urge, however, since I have about three different extensive lists of books to read. That said, I still haven't managed to pick up a book since completing The Deathly Hallows. I'm afraid anything I jump into will be highly disappointing after such a perfect ending to a brilliant series.

I resisted beginning the Harry Potter books until this winter because I didn't want to be that person -- the one like millions around the world who were "ooohing and ahhing" over the books and J.K., who were dying to read each successive installment, who had animated discussions about characters and places and animals that didn't really exist. Having heard from several close friends that they were the best young adult literature to come around in years, I finally picked them up. And I'm thankful I was able to read them all in a few short months. I would have been pre-ordering or standing in lines to get it, had I not had the good luck to know people who owned Books 1-6 and who purchased the final book early on, letting me borrow it a few weeks after it was released.

Recently, I've found myself joining in several animated discussions about the characters and events of these books. When a friend asked me what animal I'd most like to run into, I said a Hippogriff, which of course, is not real. It is legendary, however, and thus not just a Potter series invention. When I found out that Disney World is creating a Harry Potter Theme Park, complete with Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Forbidden Forest, I knew I would want to go. The world Rowling has created is simply THAT amazing.

As in all good books, the characters seem real and are believable. Their motivations and psychoses need to be discussed, deconstructed, and further developed. Severus Snape and Sirius Black are, indeed, remarkable men, though tormented. Harry is an exceptional child. Hermione, brilliant. Draco, quite cowardly and evil.

I'm grateful for this international craze because it is encouraging individuals of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and races to enjoy reading. There are so many books being published that aren't worth the ink and paper it takes to print them. It's nice to see a series so well-constructed and written taking the stage. And because libraries caught on early that these books would be hits, virtually anyone in America has access to them...for free. Such a vivid and enchanting imaginary realm deserves the attention and acclaim it is receiving.

* Police arrest French teen over Potter translation, By Reuters.

Whilst perusing the isles of a local megastore this morning, Leslie pointed to something and we started laughing. At which point my right contact blinked out of my eye and rolled down my shirt onto the filthy floor.

We spent the next 5 minutes looking for it...me, scared to move in case I'd crush it (I have hard contacts), and fearing I'll lose it permanently, meaning another $100 contact to order and get in a week. Meanwhile...how would I see?

I eventually found it, beside the front wheel of our cart, popped it into my mouth (how else can you moisturize it in the middle of a store?), and moved on.

I feel sort of like I have fungus on my eye, and maybe one my tongue from this unfortunate event.