Randomizer
Jun. 19th, 2005 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quidditchgrrlKnow what I love about The Station Agent? The realistic elements. Like when Fin is in the library and the library worker tells him he can't get a card until he brings in a piece of mail. And he doesn't argue with her. Nice.
Yes, such is the boring wonder of my life.
I've been reading quite a bit, lately. I tend to read in spurts and have at least 5-15 books going at any one time. In the past month I've finished up several new releases.
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
I wanted to like Koren and her story, I really did. Smashed is a scarily accurate account of the lives of girls as they grow and experiment with alcohol. I recognized myself in some ways, but I really have to say I took care of girls like Koren over and over during my college years. Stupid, selfish bints. Once I pulled some drunk frat guy off a girl who was screaming "no, no!" only to have her try and slap me for my trouble (I did get her to leave with me, but she shouted "I'm sorry" to the guy who'd been trying to rape her, as if I were the one in the wrong). Another time a fellow bar pal found a freshman passed out, alone at a table in Maxwell's. We couldn't get her up, and as we were turning her over to the cops, her "friends" showed up - they'd left her, unconscious, at a crowded bar while they went across the street to party.
I have always held a "drinking code" that has served me and a lot of other folks very well.
1) Know your drinking limits, and if you don't really know what you can drink before you black out/pass out, then figure it out in a safe place (i.e. at your place with a group of friends you've known a long, long time).
2) If you plan to drink to excess, only drink with people you know. The girls on your floor that you've known a week? You don't know them. They might look like you, and act like you, but you don't know them and they don't know you. There is no vested interest in safety or security there. Wait until you're home on break and hang out with old friends and get blind-drunk. Otherwise, find and keep a good-buzz minimum.
3) Drinking until you black out/pass out is not cool & is a buzz-kill for your buddies. Don't be that kind of bitch.
"Fat Girl: A True Story" by Judith Moore
The publisher hailed this as "a non-fiction She's Come Undone", but I don't know that it rises to that level of self-flagellation. The author pulls no punches about what it's like to be overweight as a child, but is able to do it in a way that doesn't make you pity her. Quite the opposite, in fact. I wouldn't say she makes herself unlikeable, but she goes out of her way to assure you that there is NOT a skinny person waiting to emerge from the chrysalis of the fat girl. She also doesn't fall into the trap of assuming that all fat people feel the same way or that their weight is the result of any group of 'disorders'. Well worth the read.
There are several more, but I realize that reviews are much better received on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge (though giving myself a quota of books to read in a year is incredibly stressful for me). So, just two tonight.
Am I the only person who struggles to cut adverb usage? I use them so much, without consideration. Annoying. Grump. Makes posting a rather longer affair than it ought to be.
Still haven't seen Batman Begins. We're going out with paternal unit tomorrow for early dinner, so it'll just have to wait until later, drat. Spent most of Saturday with a couple of the girls, having lunch and practicing pilates in Goodale Park. Had thai chili ice cream from Jeni's and Fruitips. Yum-my!
Yes, such is the boring wonder of my life.
I've been reading quite a bit, lately. I tend to read in spurts and have at least 5-15 books going at any one time. In the past month I've finished up several new releases.
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
I wanted to like Koren and her story, I really did. Smashed is a scarily accurate account of the lives of girls as they grow and experiment with alcohol. I recognized myself in some ways, but I really have to say I took care of girls like Koren over and over during my college years. Stupid, selfish bints. Once I pulled some drunk frat guy off a girl who was screaming "no, no!" only to have her try and slap me for my trouble (I did get her to leave with me, but she shouted "I'm sorry" to the guy who'd been trying to rape her, as if I were the one in the wrong). Another time a fellow bar pal found a freshman passed out, alone at a table in Maxwell's. We couldn't get her up, and as we were turning her over to the cops, her "friends" showed up - they'd left her, unconscious, at a crowded bar while they went across the street to party.
I have always held a "drinking code" that has served me and a lot of other folks very well.
1) Know your drinking limits, and if you don't really know what you can drink before you black out/pass out, then figure it out in a safe place (i.e. at your place with a group of friends you've known a long, long time).
2) If you plan to drink to excess, only drink with people you know. The girls on your floor that you've known a week? You don't know them. They might look like you, and act like you, but you don't know them and they don't know you. There is no vested interest in safety or security there. Wait until you're home on break and hang out with old friends and get blind-drunk. Otherwise, find and keep a good-buzz minimum.
3) Drinking until you black out/pass out is not cool & is a buzz-kill for your buddies. Don't be that kind of bitch.
"Fat Girl: A True Story" by Judith Moore
The publisher hailed this as "a non-fiction She's Come Undone", but I don't know that it rises to that level of self-flagellation. The author pulls no punches about what it's like to be overweight as a child, but is able to do it in a way that doesn't make you pity her. Quite the opposite, in fact. I wouldn't say she makes herself unlikeable, but she goes out of her way to assure you that there is NOT a skinny person waiting to emerge from the chrysalis of the fat girl. She also doesn't fall into the trap of assuming that all fat people feel the same way or that their weight is the result of any group of 'disorders'. Well worth the read.
There are several more, but I realize that reviews are much better received on
50bookchallenge (though giving myself a quota of books to read in a year is incredibly stressful for me). So, just two tonight.Am I the only person who struggles to cut adverb usage? I use them so much, without consideration. Annoying. Grump. Makes posting a rather longer affair than it ought to be.
Still haven't seen Batman Begins. We're going out with paternal unit tomorrow for early dinner, so it'll just have to wait until later, drat. Spent most of Saturday with a couple of the girls, having lunch and practicing pilates in Goodale Park. Had thai chili ice cream from Jeni's and Fruitips. Yum-my!
