Monday, August 04, 2008
fever 1793
fever 1793 by laurie halse anderson was pretty darned good. it combined philadelphia and infectious disease, both of which i find interesting. last year i read the american plague* and thoroughly enojoyed it so it was fun to read a fictionalized account of the plague in philadelphia.
yes, it was a kids book, but it read like an adult book. it didn’t use the type of language that most kids books written for this level of reader uses; as an adult i totally appreciate that and as a young reader i would have too.
the protagonist was a girl in her early teens and it was told from her pov. basically, philadelphia started falling apart around her as the yellow fever started killing more and more people. we learned about the “treatments” for and supposed causes of the sickness and we got to see what the city looked like after most of the population had cleared out and only those too sick, poor, or stubborn to leave were left. it was some interesting stuff.
there was an appendix at the end of the book that gave brief information about the True Facts of the plague and info on the Real People that were mentioned in passing (like Benjamin Rush and George Washington). frankly, as the dorky, pretentious kid i was, i would have really dug the appendix. hell, i dug it as an adult.
so, i’d say that if you have any kids who are interested in this type of stuff or who just kind of enjoy historical stuff, give ‘em this book. it’s marketed at 10 and up, but it’s an intelligent 10 and up.
*i can’t link to my “review” of the book, because it was written before i deleted all my blog entries. ah well.
posted by sarah on 08/04/2008 at 08:38 PM
weekend wrazzzzzzzzzzzzz
indy modeling the baby blanket
Originally uploaded by misanthropic sarah
this weekend was decent. hung out with caitlin for part of saturday and sunday. saw mama mia (cute and funny) and wall-e (cute and adorable and wonderful). finished one knitting project (pictured above) and started another.
i am VERY tired today for some reason and i wish it were okay to fall asleep at my desk. alas.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
big fucking surprise
hey. wow. even though my insurance is getting cancelled effective 7/1 I’M STILL PAYING FOR IT. INCLUDING ON TOMORROW’S CHECK. the incompetence of my hr “department” is staggering.
also, i hate working with people who are in india and who speak/type the queen’s english with all the formality. it’s nearly impossible to figure out what the fuck they’re saying or what their meaning is and it just makes us seem more like clumsy americans.
and we now need to drop our rent check off in person because of the epic fail fuck up in july and august. but they don’t have hours that we can get to. and they only accept payment in check form, no direct debit or anything like that.
why must everything be so inconvenient?
i have a very high standard, and no one ever meets it. argh.
posted by sarah on 07/31/2008 at 01:58 PM
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
mistress of the art of death
mistress of the art of death by ariana franklin. this was csi/thriller/mystery set in 12th century england. whee, some of my favorite things!
the main character, a woman, was a “doctor of death” meaning she was something like a coroner. 12th century england didn’t look too favorably on women or death doctors, but she got called there to investigate why children kept getting murdered. the town was accusing the jews of doing it (jews were also bad). so there was a ton of 12th century doctoring and csi work and a little love story, and she solved the crime and all was well.
there was some neat stuff in there about henry ii and how medicine was viewed back then and so forth.
it definitely kept my attention and i enjoyed reading it.
posted by sarah on 07/30/2008 at 03:58 PM
indeterminable kurbash
on the way to work this morning i saw a license place that said “go igles”. i was too lazy to get my phone out though.
my wrist/hand/elbow are getting janky. i’m pretty sure that i have something similar to ulnar tunnel syndrome, since i have all the symptoms. i’m on the computer 9 hours a day at work. so, i’m going to limit myself to 1 hour on saturday and 1 hour on sunday, and 15 minutes on work days at home. i don’t need to be on the computer that much anyway. i’m also trying to make my desk at work more ergonomic, but since all our furniture is cheap stuff from the second hand office supply store, i don’t know how much i’ll be able to improve things. i had tendonitis really bad in high school, and i don’t want to start going down that path again.
i am SO ready for summer to be over, but i’ve got about 2 months to go. god, i hate hot and i hate humidity and i hate feeling like i’m wading through pudding when i go outside. i hate the trickle of sweat down my back into my ass crack. i hate the sweat that somehow gathers under my underwire. i hate swamp ass and sweaty butt. i hate smelling like i’m sweating. i hate other people’s summer smells.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
x-files
we went to 69th street to see the x-files movie yesterday. i was nervous that it would suck, but it was actually really good.
spoilers ahead.
there was no mythology. samantha was mentioned once and william was mentioned once. nothing about aliens or government conspiracies or anything else. it was basically one long “monster of the week” episode, which is what i was hoping for, since going back over the mythology would be kicking a dead horse.
you can read the plot summary elsewhere i’m sure, but i thought they did a good job of capturing the feel of the series even though neither scully nor mulder were in the fbi anymore.
i’m so, so happy for myself and the people involved that the movie was good. it’s definitely something that people who never watched the show would be able to enjoy. unfortunately, i think that at this point only fans will be going to see the movie and that it won’t capture a wider audience.
i also think that this movie gave the fans closure about mulder and scully and their relationship and what happens after the series finale. so i doubt that we’ll be seeing any new movies in the future. which is sad for me because i really love the characters, but probably for the best because the series had its fantastic run, and prolonging it any more would seem desperate.
i still ♥ mulder.
posted by sarah on 07/27/2008 at 05:07 PM
Friday, July 25, 2008
x-files
david
Originally uploaded by misanthropic sarah
so, x-files is out. i still love the x-files. i am excited about the movie, but also not very optimistic about it. i kind of wish i were skipping work to go see it, but that’s not a very adult thing to do. maybe i’ll get to see it sunday.
posted by sarah on 07/25/2008 at 12:06 AM