Something To Write Home About: September 2010

Friday, September 24, 2010

365 Photos, Day 267: Today's Show

Stories and Haunted

Within the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of finishing two works of short stories, one more novel-like than the other, but both of which I enjoyed to certain extents. The first was Stories, a book of short stories compiled and edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. The second was Chuck Palahnuik's Haunted, a novel comprised of short stories, poems, and some narration between stories and poems, all focusing on nineteen people locked in a deserted building for three months to write their magnum opus.
Below, I have the stories from each book that I quite enjoyed, in no particular order. Some, I wanted to read more about. Some intrigued me. Some are compelling me to check out their authors more. And I might.

Stories
Favs:
- Fossil-Figures (Joyce Carol Oates)
- Wildfire in Manhattan (Joanne Harris)
- The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains (Neil Gaiman)
- Juvenal Nyx (Walter Mosley)
- Weights and Measures (Jodi Picoult)
- Catch and Release (Lawrence Block)
- Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Jeffrey Ford)
- A Life in Fictions (Kat Howard)
- The Therapist (Jeffrey Deaver)

Other:
- The Cult of the Nose (Al Sarrantonio)

- Human Intelligence (Kurt Andersen)

Honorable Mentions:
- Unbelief (Michael Marshall Smith)
- The Stars Are Falling (Joe R. Lansdale)
- Samantha's Diary (Diana Wynne Jones)
- Land of the Lost (Stewart O'Nan)
- Leif in the Wind (Gene Wolfe)
- Unwell (Carolyn Parkhurst)
- Parallel Lines (Tim Powers)
- The Devil on the Staircase (Joe Hill)

Haunted
- Guts
- Feet
- Crippled
- Product Placement
- Civil Twilight
- Swan Song

Summer Exercise: July and August

Yeah ... camp and computer stuff has kinda tied me up and prevented me from posting these posts ... but now I'm back at college, so here we go!

Karate
(Note: I kinda lost track of the days I went ... but this seems to be about right. Also, all workouts were around 45 to 55 minutes unless noted.)
July 5: Stretch, endurance, arm blocks, sparring, ninja sneaking
July 7: Stretch, endurance, grappling practice, grappling
July 12: Stretch, blocking (windshield wipers), sparring
July 19: Stretch, kicking and punching with focus mitts, sparring with handpads and head cages
Aug 4: Stretch, endurance with pads, ab work, turtle drill
Aug 9: Stretch, jab drills with and without focus mitts, arm bar escapes
Aug 11: Stretch, squats, leg work, abs, arm bars, and renduri
Aug 23: Stretch, warm-up fighting stance, ground work with escaping from 3 positions, renduri (45 to 50 minutes)
The Test (Aug 24): Stretch, warm-up punching kicking, throws, ground work, sparring, board breaking (45 minutes)

Walking
Aug 26: 30 minutes around a lake

Monday, September 20, 2010

365 Photos, Day 263: Canterbury Tales

Fall (a poem of sorts)

The leaves are turning,
And it feels like September just started.
The leaves are turning,
And September isn't over yet.
The leaves are turning,
And it doesn't feel like fall.
The leaves are turning,
And I'm not ready for the change.
The leaves are turning,
It's autumn,
And the leaves are falling.