Seriously Sarah Palin, Seriously

The fact that Sarah Palin would “write” a memoir is pretty obvious. The media and general public have been salivating over her and for it ever since John McCain announced her as his running mate. I guarantee it will be a top 10 bestseller for 10 weeks, selling hundreds of thousands if not millions of copies and make her publisher a lot of money.

What I can’t get past is why would any self-respecting person do that to themselves. the media has never been kind to her or her family. She quit being governor over a year before her term was up to get out of the media spotlight and maybe save her and her family so dignity. So why the memoir, to tell the story “her way” –please, she and the book will be fodder for late-night comedians’ merciless mocking as they again hunt for strings of non-related nouns formed into sentences, folksy aphorisms, and other ways to belittle her looks, intelligence, or experience.

Seasonal Shift

I wore a coat to work today. I’m drinking tea right now, simply because it’s hot and I am cold. Everyone around me seems to be coming down with a cold. I hate to admit but summer is over; fall is very much here, and winter is undoubtedly coming; and if the Farmer’s Almanac is to be trusted it will be a very cold one.

So depressingly I am now thinking of all the activities and plans I had for the summer that never happened.

• After Memorial Day I never made it to the beach again, subsequently I have a short/skirt tan rather than a bathing suit one. My inner lifeguard is so disappointed.



• Camping



• Bringing my NYC friend’s out to my country home(s) (also known as my parents’ houses) for some fresh air and to help dispel in New Jersey’s negative reputation

Maybe next summer…

I've had a very literary two weeks. Last week I went to Barnes & Noble for Philippa Gregory's reading and signing of her new book The White Queen which begins her trilogy on the Plantagenet rule in England. She incredibly smart and funny, we, the audience, laughed throughout her 45 minute talk and multimedia presentation. During the signing she spoke and asked questions with everyone. I was so impressed with how personable she was. I was equally impressed this weekend when my sister, Dad and I went to the National Book Festival listening to David Baldacci who mocked himself and his relatively new found fame when telling stories about absurd conversations with elderly women at while at a literary dinner sitting next to Pres. Bush.

However, there is the alternate side of the coin, authors who with fame have become so incredibly pompous that their while their books may be great I can't get past the incredible weight of their egos. Daniel Silva and his over use of the word "profound" to describe his own work falls into this category. Katherine Neville and her discussion of how the various secretaries at the treasury sought her out to do research for her next book as falls into this category.

Most authors describe their careers paths as starting with being a book nerd, each in turn describing how their commune with books, the library, or reading serendipitously lead them to literary fame. It's just interesting to see how that fame translates into continuous wonder/amazement/luck no matter how many best-selling, critically acclaimed titles they write; and that other's fame simple turns them into pretentious, self-aggrandizing, bores.

Book Party with no Books

On Monday a friend and I went to a book launch party for Alix Strauss’ new book Death Becomes Them about celebrity suicides. The party was impressive; it was at a great bar in Chelsea, had free signature cocktails, appetizers and chocolates, and everybody left with a goodie-bag full of alcohol, chocolate, make-up and other random goodies.

Only one thing was missing...The Book! The book wasn’t there and it’s already been published. While there is one thing I know about throwing a book party --you bring the book, you promote the book, you sell or give away the book! If anyone had walked into that party they would have no idea that it was for a book!

I was invited because I below to a group which promotes networking between people in the publishing industry but we are also frequently seen as good word-of-mouth people since for books like this we are often the targeted demographic. So here’s my word-of-mouth pitch --Harper throws a nice party, I was impressed with all of it but I can’t tell you anything about the book.

One-Catch Wonder Continues

In this last softball season, for three games in a row I made one really impressive catch. It would be one of those, running towards the ball, stick my glove out, and by some sort of providence the ball would land right in. Every single time I was surprised and excited that I had caught the ball.

Last Sunday was our first football scrimmage. We didn’t have a chance to practice this season like we did last year but as the entire team was returning so we ran a couple of play beforehand and started the game. Last year the team we played would have CRUSHED us --but this year we were better organized and we played smarter. We held our own, the final score was 38 to 31. My contributions were mostly on the defensive side, I played defensive line-man and tried to intimidate the opposing quarterback; on the offense side I missed a short pass. Then on a later play our female quarterback threw me the ball while I was in the center field. Time slowed down as I saw the ball come into my hands. The opposing team was guarding man to man so I made a dash for the end-zone. I didn’t make it all the way there but it was the most yardage I have ever made for our team.

Unfortunately that play wasn’t caught on video; but here’s one of me and my defensive glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLYh7e319MA

Baby or a dog? Never played that game before

This past weekend I was wandering around my new neighborhood and I wander into the "Flatbush Frolic" which is a fairly typical street fair with belly dancers and slight-of-hand magicians. I was sitting outside of VoxPop coffee shop and I saw a women, mid-thirties, blond, walking with a small boy who was maybe three. Across her chest she was wearing a baby papoose and out the top I could see a small head with sandy hair; but the weird thing the head kept moving back and forth like it was shaking it's head no. But for the size of the head, the baby would be way too young to have that much head control and their were no feet or arms sticking out of the papoose.

Now I've played the "Is that a guy or a girl?" game before with passing strangers wearing loose clothing or with non-discriminating hair styles but this is the first time I ever played "Is that a baby or a dog?"

I didn't see the trio again so I have no answers to my little game.

Whirlwind catch-up

So it's been a really long time since I last blogged --but I do have an excellent excuse --I don't have internet in my apartment right now.

So here's whats been going on:

I'm adjusting to living in Brooklyn (its been a whole 10 days now) so far everything is great just working on the little things now and navigating Brooklyn both on and off the subway. This week will also be my first foray to the laundry mat which if nothing else should be an interesting study in sociocultural behavior

Flying is going well --at my last class I learned the one-handed take-off, started my swing (the most difficult part of flying) and how to take off my own lines. I fly again tomorrow after work.

I had a great Labor Day weekend --I got to see pretty much all of my family in two days, an old friend, and made it back to Brooklyn on Monday to BBQ with friends there.

I'm currently reading Keith Gessen's All the Sad Young Literary Men which could probably be re-titled ANGST!!!!! because that's all the main characters seem to be doing, but I will reserve my full comments for when I finish it.

I live here now!

So the final leg of moving went smoothly and I officially live in Brooklyn now. While it will take some adjusting to and finding a new routine so far it has been great. I love being so close to my friends and the park. On Sunday on my way to meet friends in the park I got to enjoy the sunshine for a 20 minute walk rather than an hour and a half on the subway. Then on my way to a friend's party that evening I was able to run home first because I was so close and still make it to the party in good time. I love having more space in my new room and apartment.

Now I just need to learn my way aroudn without the subway, buy a bike, and write a novel to be a regular Brooklynite?, Brooklynonian?

Last night I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's for the first time and while I intellectually knew the store would be busy it wasn't till I experienced it that I truly understood. The checkout line wrapped entirely around the store. Cart traffic jams were common and there was definitely no chance of meandering aisle by aisle the way I used to shop. Although for all it's busyness the people there were very nice and the store/checkout is very efficiently run.

What I will miss about Hoboken #3

As the final entry in my "What I will miss about Hoboken segment" I will now extol the virtues of Empire Coffee and Tea:

The shop is cozy and inviting, the walls are lined with bags of coffee beans and there are only a couple of tables so it's never too noisy. The proprietors and baristas know the names, lives and orders of their regulars. Their prices aren't ridiculous! And in my Goldilocks opinion --Starbucks coffee is too bitter, Dunkin Donuts coffee is too sweet, but Empire's is just right.

I will miss them, but thankfully they deliver!