Home
Too afraid to leave the house
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2408
I have to confess, I occasionally read the news. The online version, it's a way of postponing work that needs to be done, of procrastinating the endless list of chores that will devour my day. I rationalize it by believing it "Keeps me informed".
It doesn't really. But on that note here's a summary of todays headlines in the Calgary Herald:
It's kinda tough to read, so feel free to enlarge it by clicking. It'll still be tough to read, but bigger. My notes in red....
I'm gonna suck the juice out like it was a bug....
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 1560
It's soccer and our turn to bring the snacks. Fruit and granola bars. This contents most of the children, but there's one, a smaller, chubby kid with a faux-hawk who's a bit confused...
"Do I have to have some fruit?..." he asks me.
"No" I answer.
He asks me again.
"Da Da Do I have to have some fruit?"
His parents are nowhere to be seen.
"Fruit is an important part of a healthy and well balanced diet" I tell him. "I won't make you have any fruit, but you should have some."
A few minutes later, his mouth stuffed with grapes, he starts to talk to me again...
"I'm gonnaa, I'm gonnnaa" he begins, popping grapes in and out of his mouth with his tongue as he speaks, an intense look in his eyes...
"I'm gonna, I'm gonna suck all the juice out of them like like they were bugs and and and I was a a spider"
I'm thinking to myself, like, WTF, and then it dawns on my that this is probably the best conversation I've had all day....
I let him continue.
"You know spiders, they catch insects and then they....."
Ultimate Journey - Richard Bernstein
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1868
In which a New York Times book reviewer retraces via automobile, train and planes the route taken by the 7th century Buddhist Monk Hsuan Tsang through China and India in his journey to achieve enlightenment. If that sound's ambiguous it was meant to be so, the retracing of the journey of the monk is meant to juxtapose the experiences of a traveller today with those of the monk some 1300 years ago. And the narrator generously (too generously) shares with us his own spiritual angst as that of a middle aged Jewish man who is unable to commit to wife or religion, the monks quest becoming, in a way, his own.
In theory this should have been a great travel book. I mean, shucks, "The New York Times Book Review" has a blurb on the cover that reads: "Wonderful...Deserves to become a classic in its own right" . Which, when you think about it, makes sense as Richard Bernstein works for "The New York Times Book Review". Reviewing books. Hopefully they didn't assign him this to read. Or, quite possibly, they did. Which would explain the review.
That said, it was OK, but with so many good and great books out there I wouldn't take the time out to read it. Somehow the narrator failed to engage me, the people, places, situations, were not my own. But it did inspire me to research some other travel authors who might interest me more....
Review: (In keeping with the Buddhist theme): "The sound of 1 hand clapping"
Will Ferguson - Hitching Rides With Buddha
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1765
I didn't want to read this book. I picked it up thinking that my mother, who taught in Japan for several years, might enjoy it. But she'd read it and recommended it to me heartily.
Now I wasn't in any great rush to read it for a couple of other reasons. One of which was that I thought I had attended university with Will and that he was an asshole. Well, not necessarily an asshole, he was quite likeable in fact, it's just that he published before me and while it's probably drivel possibly it's not and that makes him an asshole.
So I did a bit of research and, lo and behold, I didn't go to university with Will Ferguson. A few "Will's", a few "Ferguson's", that was probably where I got confused. It doesn't lessen the fact that he's still an asshole.
I began the book, perfectly prepared to hate the guy and write it off. Looking, in fact, for any reason to dislike it. But, oddly enough, there weren't any. Or not too many. It's actually a perfect travel book. By perfect I mean he meets a variety of characters, there's some humour and poetry, he has some small adventures and fills us in with the history, geography and culture of the places he visits. And his assessments aren't far off of my own (if anything they're probably better, having done research and all). But I won't hold that against him.
It was a good book. Actually, it was a great book, but I wouldn't say that 'cause I hate the guy. I'd give it a full bento box, with extra salmon and octupus and several extra pieces of that delicious fried tofu.
Page 1030 of 1086