Monday, March 22, 2010

Currently.

I saw this on a couple of blogs I enjoy and thought I’d follow suit. Yes, I’m a bit late to the game.

Current Book(s): See sidebar (how i roll: i'm reading). I really am reading all seven of them. Not my norm to be reading so many at once, but it’s where I’m at just this moment I guess.

I’m not liking Catcher, but the rest are really interesting in entirely different ways. No Impact Man is not at all what I expected, so personal and funny and conversational… I highly recommend it.

Current Playlist: Mostly classical with traditional Celtic thrown in now and then. Okay, and Celtic drinking songs, too. They’re hilarious.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: I don’t really do shame or guilt. Not in relation to pleasure, at least.

Current Drink: Chai, nice and spicy with no milk. When I lived in Italy I would fantasize about it and refer to it as “the nectar of the Gods.” It’s just next to me now. But also I found an old favorite wine the other night, Marqués de Cáceres Grianza and while it’s not as fabulous as I remember (or at least this vintage isn’t as tasty), I have still been enjoying it wholeheartedly with my homemade suppers the last few nights.

Current Food: Hmm, well I sort of had a festival of food this weekend in that I thoroughly enjoyed cooking up all sorts of lovely dishes from scratch… unfortunately the steak I grilled to go with my potato and mushroom au gratin, which I purchased last minute from the local Safeway rather than the market with the proper meat section, seems to have been bad so I tried to sooth my stomach with some of my homemade Irish soda bread I was trying to save for tomorrow’s breakfast. Fingers crossed it helps!

Current Favorite Show: Well, it’s not officially airing it’s last episodes for another week or so, but Saving Grace, absolutely. I can’t begin to say how deeply this show effects me.

I’ve been thinking about this recently because I’ve been trying to decide when I move what shows I’d still want to try to catch. As cheesy as this sounds, Bones made that list. Castle didn’t, but came close. I still love House, but would be okay without it I find.

Mostly I watch tons British shows, so whichever one I’m into at the moment would likely make the list (the advantage of them is that they only last from 6 to 8 episodes a season so it’s not exactly a long-term commitment). At this moment, that is Kingdom and Blackpool.

Current Wishlist: A job in and a ticket to Scotland. Oh, and my financial woes thrust upon me on the sly by my ex-boyfriend to magically disappear.

Current Needs: Money for the ticket, and the job of course.

Current Triumphs: Honestly, that I’m somehow maintaining a positive, hopeful outlook after all I’ve gone through. That I believe I am about to move forward with my goals, regardless of what my current circumstances look like from that horrid face called “reality.” Also, that I’m good with who I am as I am this moment. That’s huge.

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: Bouts of self-doubt. The garage with all the crap that must be gone through, gotten rid of, and most of all sold. The current situation of finances, of lacking relationships, of faltering belief in myself to attain; to live again.

Current Celebrity Crush: I guess it’d be a girl crush on Nigella Lawson. She is a goddess, domestic and otherwise. She’s stunning, confident, and completely at home in her curvaceous body. She loves food, loves to cook, loves to bring people together with it… and has the resources and high-brow connections to do so and make a living at it. May I please be her?

Also, Stephen Fry. I want to marry him. Yes, I know he’s gay. And English.

But honestly, he seems kind and witty, brilliant and compassionate. He both recognizes and embraces his differences, yet conveys an everyman's commonality with humanity. he's humble yet clever. In so many ways, he is endearing to me.

Current Indulgence: British television shows.

Current Blessing(s): Parents that have put up with (and financially supported) me all this time as I have been slowly, slowly emerging from the fog of trauma. My online girlfriends who support and encourage me just exactly when and how I need it. Going to therapy, silly as that sounds.

Current Outfit: PJs, actually. It’s late. But I wore one of my jail house striped tops today with jeans tucked into my awesome black Merrell rain boots, even though it was sunny. A girl can dream.

Current Excitement: I WISH I could say hockey, but my team has been sucking badly of late. That a dear friend got engaged this weekend. That I’m believing and working toward moving to Scotland. That I’m continuing to purge the detritus of life. That I’m allowed to wear heels again.

Current Link: I guess I’d have to say the blog that I first saw this list on, though I’ve been following the blog they got it from for a while, yet somehow missed this post on that one!

7 comments:

Courtney said...

Love this blog. You MUST try Salinger's stories, which Bex just finished and loved, even if Catcher isn't your cuppa. I think he's like Hem and Fitz in that his stories are WAY better than his novels. And Catcher, as amazing as it was when I was 14, is a novel that really has to be read young. Otherwise Holden gets really, really annoying (which is why I won't re-read).

Sort of like Carey Mulligan's character in "An Education." I adored the movie, but the entire time I was with Olivia (on whom I also have a serious crush), telling her that she was acting like an idiot, life is not always about going to Paris and having fun, and that she needed something of her own, and some experience before she could figure this out. Go to Oxford and dump this shady guy, I wanted to yell.

But if I had seen "An Education" at 15 or 18 or even 21, I would have had a completely different reaction. I would have urged her to follow her dreams, urged her to pursue true love and been shocked when it didn't pan out. I don't think this is cynicism, but wisdom that comes from having my own eduction.

Which is sort of the inherent problem with Holden. He is only REALLY appealing as a character when you do not have this wisdom. (Same with Gatsby, although I still love the sh!t out of that book). But Salinger could flat out write, so if you need some stories to re-assure yourself, let me know when you have finished the current 7 and I will send them and Arcadia.

WHERE did you get the Merrell boots and do they work for larger calves!!

gbpackergirl76 said...

Love Elizabeth George! I've only read one of her books, own a few more, and have watched all the Lynley shows on PBS. SUCH a great writer.

Miss Eliza said...

I agree with Courtney. Try the short stories, lved those, hated that twerp Holden!

whichwaydidshego said...

Those Merrell boots TOTALLY fit larger calves. Got them at REI, but they are on sale all over the internet... I adore them and wear them all the time, rain or shine, what with my ankle AND heel thing going on! Well, but mostly because I adore them - they are SO cute!

Don't read an Elizabeth George book if you don't want to get really involved. She spins a great story with lots of detail. But they are NOT short. LOL

Once I finish this Salinger, I think I'll be moving on to other adventures in reading for a while (if you saw my closet full of to-reads, you'd understand)... but a few years down the road when I'm in need of something new I'll remember you gal's advice. Thanks.

Brian said...

No shame or guilt with your pleasure...how very hedonist of you. Sometimes, that pleasure is best that is sought with reckless abandon.

Best book ever: "Bless the Beasts and Children". Easy read, yet entertaining...and I'm pretty sure that every person(ality) on the planet is in that book. Also: "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz.

So definitely with you on the Chai. Whoever thought that up should win an awar....oh wait, nevermind...they're dead.

whichwaydidshego said...

Oh, I seek pleasure with reckless abandon... I just don't feel bad afterward.

I'll have to keep a lookout for your recommended books... but the was what I'm doing/reading, etc., currently - favorites are a far bigger and more difficult topic in my opinion!

I laughed out loud at the award thing! Yummmm. Now I want chai again!

whichwaydidshego said...

LOL - I just realized I'd forgotten to fill in the brand of the wine! All fixed, but too funny.