Here’s something I’m very excited about. One of my most favorite authors (for his epic and lyrical storytelling) will release this new book on August/September 2009.

Publisher’s description:

[514 pages. Published by Doubleday]

An unlikely group of Charlestonian teens forms a friendship in 1969, just as the certainties and verities of southern society are quaked by the social and political forces unleashed earlier in the decade. They come from all walks of life, from the privileged homes of the aristocracy, from an orphanage, from a broken home where an alcoholic mother and her twins live in fear of a murderous father, from the home of public high school’s first black football coach, and from the home of the same school’s principal. The group’s fulcrum, Leopold Bloom King, second son of an ex-nun Joyce scholar, who is also the school’s principal, and a science-teacher father, is just climbing out of childhood mental illness after having discovered his handsome, popular, athletic, scholarly older brother dead from suicide. Over the next two decades, these friends find success in journalism, the bar, law enforcement, music, and Hollywood. Echoing some themes from his earlier novels, Conroy fleshes out the almost impossibly dramatic details of each of the friends’ lives in this vast, intricate story, and he reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina [the nearby Outer Banks], or anywhere else in the U.S.

It took me some time to update this site again because I was busy with a lot of other things. Convenient excuse, huh?!

Well, I joined a badminton tournament last weekend and although I did enjoy the experience, I mean just being a part of the event, I didn’t enjoy my actual games all that much.  So days before that, I was busy trying to have as many days  of play as I can get in preparation. And then there was the matter of moving out of my current apartment to a new one. I’m pretty excited about moving out/moving in – new place, new surroundings, new neighbors,  new undermount sink, new bathroom, new everything – but the actual process of packing stuff, especially the large ones, is just too exhausting.

Anyway, we’re back on here.  I hope.

Somebody hacked into this site and meddled with the admin rights. Even created a post and deleted some links. Wow. What good would that do? I mean for anyone who’s not me? This blog feels important now, he he. I’m letting it be extra self-involved for a while.

I’ll create a new post later. Will approach my tv stand and go watch some shows for now. I’m really hoping it will not happen again. Pretty, please…

This is a meme from onyxx. It’s supposed to be an award thingie that I should pass on, but for now I’d just really like to make the list. Anyone who will get to read this and want to make your own list, please do. You can leave a comment, if you like, so I can read your favorites, too.

1. Books/Reading. This makes the top of the list and is quite the no-brainer. My earliest memories involve holding a book in my hands and being so fascinated by it – the shape, the texture of the pages, the print inside that I cannot even read yet, the embossed title on the hardbound cover. Then I discovered comics, magazines, and other forms of literature. It was love, and it was the lasting kind. It doesn’t matter if I’m reading on a sofa or on a bed or a bench, or even on area rugs.

2. Music (listening to, singing along). When I was in high school,  I overheard my parents arguing if they should provide restrictions with my use of the cassette player. They were worried about the amount of time I spend beside it more than I do “worthwhile” activities. Besides books, the love of music is the one inherent trait I can claim over my other current fixations that are mostly due to acquired tastes and habits.

3. Racquet sports. I love playing badminton. I think I can safely say I’m a serious player now.  [Although I've always been serious (heh!) and I've been playing badminton for years.]  I’m still not the uber competitive type (which is sometimes important) and my skill level can use more improvement to be at par with my usual company, but I’ve been appreciating the game in the artistic level now – how it can be something of a craft more than just a nifty little hobby.  Which is exactly why I love watching tennis. Watching pros, I don’t just see scores and the ball going back and forth over a net.  I see a battle of wills, artistry with shot making, a display of gallantry and passion. I can say more but that’s enough to justify rank no. 3.

4. Media: TV series, films. It’s all about a good story or an ordinary tale told using extraordinary devices. It’s about finding something to relate to or something that will transport you to another world. It’s about fun and escapism.

5.  The Beach. I once contemplated if I’d rather live somewhere with a good view of the seashore or in the middle of green hills and mountains. My answer came to my mind faster than I can say beach. There’s something about the sea that calms me, even if, to be honest, I’m terrified of it. Maybe it’s that combination of power and mystic that fascinates me so.

6. Internalizing. I do that a lot. I sometimes watch people and play shrink. It makes me crazy, LOL.

7. Internet. Almost ALL of my waking hours are now spent online. Part of my job and my “job.” But it takes the last spot because my enjoyment of it is a direct consequence of my other favorites listed above. I surf the Internet for information about everything else that I love.

Copied these straight out of Goodreads:

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“…if a cluttered desk is that of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?”

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Take a look at my body
Look at my hands
There’s so much here that I don’t understand
Your face-saving promises
Whispered like prayers
I don’t need them
Because I’ve been treated so wrong
I’ve been treated so long
As if I’m becoming untouchable
Well, content loves the silence
It thrives in the dark
With fine winding tendrils
That strangle the heart
They say that promises sweeten the blow
But I don’t need them, no
I don’t need them

I’m the slow dying flower
In the frost killing hour
Sweet turning sour and untouchable

Well is it dark enough
Can you see me
Do you want me
Can you reach me
Oh, I’m leaving

____________

Song: My Skin
Artist: Natalie Merchant

[Took this one out of an Alias episode. I think it's such a sad song. I loved it.]