Gimmesanity

One of the many side-effects of pregnancy is crazy-ass dreams (I think that’s the official medical term for it.) I normally have pretty vivid dreams, but lately they’ve been particularly insane. Last night, I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to the sound of rain falling against my window. I had woken up from a dream where I had ordered a book (don’t know which one), and the person had sent along two huge skeins of blueish-green yarn that I promptly decided needed to become a shawl.

Seriously.

I thought about different patterns and whether it should be triangular or a rectangle….whether I wanted a lacy border or not.

I’m taking this as a sign that maybe I should put an end to my silly, and not very successful, self-imposed pre-MDS&W yarn diet. What do you think?

The lovely Patty has tagged me for a meme.

Basically, I’m supposed to pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages and find the 5th-8th sentences.

A and I have a little book club thing going on. Sometimes we pick winners. Other times…yeah, not so much. We’re currently reading Blindness by Jose Saramago. If you all have ever read any South American authors, you’ll know how much the Spanish language lurves its run-on, convoluted sentences. This book was originally written in Spanish, and Mr. Saramago passed away before the translation was finished. I don’t think his input would’ve made the sentences any shorter, though. Seriously, the fifth sentence in this book is about 2/3 down the page. So, here goes:

“Faced with this situation, the Government had no alternative but to go rapidly into reverse gear, broadening the criteria it had established about the places and spaces that could be requisitioned, resulting in the immediate and improvised utilization of abandoned factories, disused churches, sports pavilions and empty warehouses. For the last two days there has been talk of setting up army tents, added the old man with the black eye-patch. At the beginning, the very beginning, several charitable organizations were still offering volunteers to assist the blind, to make their beds, clean out the lavatories, wash their clothes, prepare their food, the minimum of care without which life soon becomes unbearable, even for those who can see. These dear people went blind immediately but at least the generosity of their gesture would go down in history. ”

I’m gonna tag SJ, Del, Traci, and Carmell, mostly because I’m nosy and want to see what you all are reading.

ETA: Ahh, seems I stand corrected. Mr. Saramago is alive and kicking. It’s his translator, Giovanni Pontiero, who keeled over before the book was done. Also, this was originally in Portuguese. I had assumed Spanish because of the writing style and the name….thanks for correcting me, Ana!

Seeing these all over Park Slope today:

Monkey and I spent the day in the park, then wandering around 7th Ave. Once she passed out in her stroller, I was able to head over to one of my favorite places to grab a drink and take care of some homework. Multi-tasking - the only way to survive motherhood. By the way, if you’re a fan of the Bloody Marys, like yours truly, do yourself a favor and order one from here. While it wasn’t the best, per say, it was big and spicy. Mmmm.

(I do some of my best studying in bars. I think the alcohol/not being at home combo does something to spark the smarts in my head. And, yes, I take my child to bars. She was all of 3 weeks new when I took her to her first establishment. I heart NY’s non-smoking policy. However, Union Hall has food - decent food, from what I hear. So, it doesn’t REALLY count as a bar, right?)

I also stopped by the bookstore, a gift certificate in my grubby hands. My birfday is next week, but I wasn’t about to wait until then to spend it on some new reads.

My plans for tonight, plus my new prezzies:

(the books: The Alchemist, About Grace, Como Agua Para Chocolate (I’m a believer in reading books in their native language whenever possible - I get to read the author’s words, not a translation, and I practice my espanol), and Motherless Brooklyn.)

I have a date with some vino and a sock. Ciao.