21 (if I let myself cheat)

I spent a few hours in Books Inc. with Andy just now and bought one heckov a lot of books for people (and I'd already ordered a few from Amazon).

While browsing, I stumbled upon "The Lump of Coal" by Lemony Snicket and read the whole thing cover to cover. It's about a lump of coal who wants to be an artist, either by doing abstract charcoal drawings or making lines on barbecued chicken. This search for miracles takes all of 1000 words, or about 20 fully illustrated pages to get through, but it is a book. It's also the kind of children's book my mom and I have been kicking around for a few months.

Take a look at this despondent little bastard brooding in a stocking. Isn't it great?



And yes, I heard most of the narration in Jude Law's voice.

Four to go

I started this year with a hope more than a goal. To read, on average, two books a month. I'd fallen off book reading since graduating and I've always loved books (Nate the Great, WHAT WHAT!) and didn't think it an unrealistic goal since I used to read 10-20 books a quarter when I was at UCLA.

Looking at the column on the left of this blog, you can see what I'm reading now, and books I've "recently read." By my count, starting with "Old Man and the Sea," (which I read in January) I've read 20 books so far in 2008. And despite what my current reading list says, I'm actually only reading three of those books - mostly done with "Tumble Home" (collection of short stories), a third through "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and just started but will tear through the collection of columns about reading a lot of books by Nick Hornby, "Shakespeare Wrote for Money."

That brings me to 23, one shy of my aspiration. With two weeks left of this year (which has really been a pretty cool year overall) I'm thinking I have to hit this mark. Perhaps another play, or a graphic novel. Andy does have "The Watchmen" sitting on his bookshelf.

Or maybe I'll remember something I read and didn't write down. That would be ideal, really. If only I could count all the magazines and news I've read as one big "What happened in 2008" tome. But alas, I think that would be cheating. And I already feel bad enough about counting "Maus" as two books.

A little too ironic

There is something so delicious about spending my lunch hour eating Orange Chicken at Panda Express while reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. The answer to the question of "What should I eat?" is probably not "the jewel of the Orient," but it's certainly the answer to the question of "what do I want to eat right now?" (Well not now, cause I just ate that, but two hours ago it was the answer.)

But I did just sign up for bi-weekly deliveries of fresh, locally grown organic fruits and veggies from FarmFreshToYou.com. So I've got that going for me starting on Tuesday.

Christmas Issue

The thing keeping Christmas from being really fantastic is two tendencies of mine that get in the way of gift receiving. The first is easily remedied by being poor: I buy stuff I want when I want it.

The second is a more far-reaching problem: I don't really talk about stuff I want. Now, it's no secret that I want a motorcycle and I need a new iPod, but we all know they're not cheap (if they were I wouldn't have been using a partially functional unit for the past 10 months), and other little things I like go largely unmentioned.

Now I've already heard tale of one present I may be getting and it's perfect because a) I don't talk about wanting it but to the observant I clearly do, and b) it's something I wouldn't have bought for myself.

But there are some things out there that I think I'd like but don't talk about for whatever reason. Like a set of DJ-style headphones. I don't want to be that guy on the bus with the overly elaborate headphones - especially if my iPod doesn't work - but a large part of me thinks I'd enjoy them. I saw a pair of Sony ones for like $30.

Of course I still need that golf bag and UCLA head covers for my new, awesome R7 clubs. They're just not stylish enough yet. But maybe the UCLA stuff would clash with the red and black bag. We'll never really know.

Sports Night Special Edition just came out on DVD. Everyone should want that.

There's also a new Tomb Raider game that could be fun (the last one was) and I'd like to read some magazines/publications such as the Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly, the Believer, Good, but don't cause they're kind of expensive and I'm kind of lazy.

And if I had that couch/bed from Ikea, I might just use it as my main couch and leave my futon down all the time cause I'm a fan of not reconfiguring my bed every morning and evening (again, lazy).

And why are navy blue slacks so hard to find? I feel like they'd go with everything (just like jeans do) yet no one seams to have them.

This kind of turned into a Seinfeld routine, but what is the deal with blue pants? And how do I tell my secret Santa at work to just buy me a bottle of booze or a good book?