Goals 2019 -- March Recap

So much reading to do this month!

I did a decent job.  I didn't knock out everything, but I made good progress on each of my goals:
- Truman: I knew, because this book isn't mine so I'm not comfortable carrying it around and beating it up, that I only had one hope for finishing Truman this month since the library license for the ebook expired (which they did eventually renew).  It was to download the audiobook, which I did.  The problem is that the only audiobook version available at the library was an abridged version.  So I did finish it, but not quite the complete version.  I'm still counting it.
- Ethics (and Other Liabilities): this one I finished, and loved.  Hooray!
- Fall in Love for Life: I made good progress on this one, but didn't finish it.  As of this writing, I'm on page 157 of 205 -- and it's a quick read so I should finish soon!

K's update will follow shortly!

Alarms and Ads

I can't be the only person who thinks it should be highly illegal to use the sound of alarm clocks in radio and TV ads, can I?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

SLSO Show #4

Yesterday was an interesting show.  The theme was death.  But it was oddly not depressing.  There were only two pieces, and no intermission.

The first piece was Stravinsky's Funeral Song, op. 5.  It was written shortly after the death of his friend and mentor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  The piece was performed once, at a memorial concern for R-K, and then the score was lost to the ages.  There were rumors about where it was, but searches by musicologists turned up nothing.

Over 100 years after its only performance, in 2015, the long lost score turned up in the dusty corner of a library at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  The piece was sad and powerful and lovely.

The second piece was the showstopper in length, but in my opinion paled in comparison in terms of its ability to move.  It was Johannes Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45 ("A German Requiem").  It is a seven-movement choral piece, so I was predisposed to like it.  However, the basis in Bible verses predisposed me to dislike it, so it balanced out around mediocre.

Ethics (and Other Liabilities): Trying to Live Right in an Amoral World -- Take 2

What an interesting read.

Ethics (and Other Liabilities) is a collection of essays which were originally published over the course of two years in Esquire magazine.  Each essay addresses a different question, often stemming from an experience of the author or a friend of his.

The questions, though they were compiled and published in 1982, remain relevant.  The specific details of the stories obviously seem dated, but in a funny way that just serves to remind the reader of the durability of the problems.

Stein is perceptive and economical in his writing.  What I would really like to do is read it again, one essay at a time, and discuss each with someone else as we work our way through the volume.

I don't read many books twice.

What I Watched -- Free Solo

S and I lucked out in finding Free Solo on TV while we were in Colorado.  We would have missed it if our original flight hadn't been cancelled, so it was one of the silver linings of the slightly extended vacation.

The movie is every bit as astounding as one would expect of a documentary about a rock climber whose dream is to scale a 3000-foot wall with no ropes or other safety equipment.  It's an astonishing thing to attempt, a physical and psychological accomplishment, and a triumph of nerves.

It makes my heart race just to think about it.

Bottom line: a stunning film.

What I'm Reading Now -- Fall in Love for Life: Inspiration from a 73-Year Marriage

On to the March goal, which hopefully I will have better luck with than February!

I'm getting started on Fall in Love for Life: Inspiration from a 73-Year Marriage.  It was K's pick and looks like it'll be a quick read, plus something in small chunks for the airplane today.

The title pretty much says it all -- life lessons from a long marriage.  I'm all ears!

Goals 2019 -- March Edition

Reading!  Yay books!

I'll be honest, my goal this month is a lofty one.  I want to finish two books that I've been reading forever.  One, Ethics (and Other Liabilities), should be fairly easy to get through.  It's a short collection of essays, so it's easily broken up into short reading bursts.  The other is Truman, which I've been working on for about 100 years.  I'm two thirds of the way there.  Is it too much to do the rest in a month?  Probably -- especially since apparently the library's e-book license expired, so now I'm relegated to only making progress when I'm at home.  But I'm going to try.  I also have a my next postal book club book: Fall In Love for Life.  It's really going to be a challenge to get through all three, but if our cold weather holds out, maybe I can do it!

K has two book club obligations: The Poet X and Where the Crawdads Sing -- because one book club is never enough!  She also has a goal to read two additional books, though those haven't been selected yet.  It'll be a surprise at the end of the month to find out what they are!

Goals 2019 -- February Recap

So, this was closet clean-out month.

I made a bit of progress, but I would not qualify it as a success.  I got through about half my closet.  I have a handful of things each to give away, throw away, and repair/polish.  Not nearly as many as I had hoped, so I might need another run-through.  I guess the positive takeaway of this is that I don't have a lot of superfluous clothing.  (Although, looking at how much I have, that hardly seems possible.)

The other half of my closet, though, never got touched.  In truth, I don't think there will be much there to get rid of, because that's where my suits and work clothes live, so I have a pretty good idea of what's there.

And I haven't done anything in the direction of getting clothes in for repairs, etc.  There just wasn't enough time this month.  S and I ended up being out of town for two of the weekends in Feb, plus a handful of weekdays, and that really cut down on my at-home recreational time, not that I'm complaining!

K says:

When M proposed that we try to clean out our closets for February, I thought, “I can certainly handle that.” And, to some extent, I could. On February 1, I found myself with nothing to do and a long, empty, quiet evening ahead of me. So, I put on the Hamilton soundtrack and got to it. I finished going through my closet by the time I went to bed that night, and I fancied myself something of a superhero. Here I was, on Day 1 of the month, done.

I decided to wind down by reading the latest post on M’s blog, where I found that I was not done! Now, I had to follow through the with get rid of, send for tailoring, send for damage repair part of this agreement. How hard could that be? I wouldn’t be a superhero, but I’d be something of a star.

And, here I am, 27 days later surrounded by a bag for donation that I’m hoping my mom will drop off before Thursday comes and another bag that it’s possible I mightcould get rid of by then and another stack that has to make it to the “big city” of West Palm in order to find the way into a good luggage repair shop and a quality dry cleaner, so that’s probably not going to happen by the end of the month, but maybe by March 2 if I’m lucky! And, to top it all off, I came home from dinner tonight to find that the heels on my sandals are peeling off, so I need to add a super gluing project to the “to do” list too. No longer am I the hero I once was. I was brought down by the vast 27 days of possibility that I left myself by finishing this project so early. And, now I remember why I don’t clean out my closet that often. It’s really just the process of moving one stack of things in one direction and then back in another until I can actually manage to get them out of the house!

What I Watched -- Mowgli

S and I were trolling for Netflix movies and found Mowgli recently.  It was obvious it was a version of The Jungle Book, but looked more adult and interesting.

And it certainly was not meant for children.  It's dark.  But I like dark.  It's the classic Jungle Book story.  The original Kipling works (which I have not read) apparently were themselves quite dark.  Much darker, in fact, than Walt Disney wanted for his happy, family-friendly movie when he made the animated version, so he lightened it up a bit.  Having not read the originals, I can't say how true this version is to the book. 

Bottom line: I liked it, for what it was.