Moby Dick Continues

During the commercials of "The Office" and "Say 'Yes' to the Dress," I managed to get through another 100 pages of Moby Dick (what can I say? There was a "Say 'Yes'" marathon).

Pages 401-500

In perhaps one of the most thrilling scenes yet, the whalers are attacked by a school of whales and barely escape with their lives. Later, the cabin boy is accidentally left in the middle of the ocean while the three smaller boats go a-whaling, and the solitude and fear literally drive him insane.

Best line: Come; let us squeeze hands all around; nay, let us squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk of sperm and kindness. [pg 484]

(Ummmm...yeah. Let's do that.)

Moby Dick

I have decided not to give up on Moby Dick. How can I, a holder of a college degree in literature, allow a measly 697-page book to defeat me? I cannot - I repeat, canNOT.

So, I come armed with a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and mad skimming skills to the book that almost schooled me.

However, I know that not all of my readers are readers of Melville and might enjoy a...ahem...condensed version, a la Charity. I am reading the Barnes & Noble Classic Edition, so feel free to follow along.

Pages 1-100

The first-person narrator, Ishmael, meets Queequeg and has many thoughts which would today be considered racist, white-dominant, bigoted, and insensitive – but for the time were probably generous, kind-hearted, and inter-culturally forward-thinking. The two strike up a bromance and decide to go to sea on the same ship.

Best line: Call me Ishmael. [pg 1]

(What can I say? It’s classic.)

Pages 101-200

While in bed together, Ishmael and Queequeg decide to go whaling. They board a ship with a mysterious captain.

Best line: La! la, ma’am! – Mistress! murder! Mrs. Hussey! apoplexy! [pg 115]

Pages 201-300

We find out that the captain, Ahab, has a heretofore unrevealed agenda: kill a white sperm whale named – you’ll never guess – Moby Dick. (Yes, I know you can figure this out from the cover, but just go with it.) Ishmael processes the symbolic meanings of the color white. Ishmael, Queequeg, and the crew find some whales, but they don’t catch any.

Best line: I am madness maddened. [pg 208]

(Actually, chapter 37 – where this quote is found – switches to Ahab’s internal monologue, and the prose is delicious. I read it five times and actually got stuck here for several months because I was loathe to get back into Ishmael’s head.)

Pages 301-400

The crew captures and kills a sperm whale. Ishmael and Queequeg’s bromance continues. Ishmael treats us to 50 pages of his thoughts about the sperm whale’s severed head. No joke: 50 pages. About the head.

Best line: Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. 

So, in productive subjects, grow the chapters. [pg 342]

(You’re not kidding me!)

Honorable mention: The crotch alluded to on a previous page deserves independent mention. [pg 342]

Stay tuned for the next three installments, coming as I finish the reading. I am freshly determined (mostly by lack of nightlife in Joplin) to conquer the book by the end of 2011. Also, I have decided that heavy skimming is allowed because, well, Ishmael is boring. (Sorry, Herman, ol' chap.)

September Reads

Stand-alone book:
The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

Middle or ending books in series:
Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Not a shabby list for the same month that I moved, started a new job, and got cable television. :-)

September recommendation: The Bride Collector by Tedd Dekker. He gets better and better with each book, and his thrillers transcend the usual Christian fiction. While his "Circle Trilogy" disappoints me more and more with each book that comes out, his other works have been on my list of favorite books since I discovered "Heaven's Wager" in high school.

Moby Dick: I'm three months away from ditching it. There's still hope, but it dies a little with each passing month.

Of course I have a library card for Joplin, where I'm living now. Anything I should borrow over the next almost-eight weeks?

August Reads

This month, my 12-year-old brother and I discovered the 39 Clues series, promptly checked all of them out from the library, and devoured them like they were...um, due back soon?

We both liked them, especially because they were written by different people - some old favorite authors, and some up-and-comers. I appreciated that the books were fun and fast; but they didn't sugar-coat the evil that people will stoop to in order to acquire unlimited power, and they didn't gloss over grief and healing.

Here they are in order:
Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
One False Note by Gordon Korman
The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis
Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson
The Black Circle by Patrick Carman
In Too Deep by Jude Watson
The Viper's Nest by Peter Lerangis
The Emperor's Code by Gordon Korman
Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park
Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, and Gordon Korman

I also read a new young adult book: As You Wish by Jackson Pearce. It was a cute story about a girl and a genie, made especially impressive by the fact that the kid in the story was a kid - not just a mini adult.

I've notice that I've been reading a lot of young adult books lately. Rest assured, it's probably just a phase. I still haven't given up on Moby Dick, though I think I've officially given up on Adam Bede by George Eliot.

New job!...kinda

On the last Tuesday in July, my office was notified that our branch would be closing in 30 days. As this was the third time I'd been laid off in 27 months, my initial reaction was, "Wow, I get 30 days' notice. What a luxury!" Simultaneously, I was relieved because I hadn't made any major life changes since starting the job on January 31, and I was getting kind of bored. (See previous post for list of major life changes in my adult life.)

Nevertheless, the announcement was at least a little sad. Ever since I got the job at Amedisys Home Health, I've felt like I was born to be a Business Office Manager (BOM) with this company; but what I really wanted to do was be a "traveler," a person who goes to an office for 12-13 weeks at a time and then moves on.

To date, however, the only jobs like that have been for nurses and therapists. Soooooo...when I found out my office was closing, I got in touch with the people who recruit travelers and told them what I wanted to do, and they thought it was a great idea. So they created the position. And offered me lots of money to fill it.

The same week they decided to create the position, the office in Joplin, Missouri contacted them to see if they had any ideas for getting help while their BOM is on maternity leave beginning in September. So perfect!

The last day my office will be open is August 26. Then I'm taking off a week to pack and get my wisdom teeth pulled. Then on Labor Day weekend, I'm moving down to Joplin for 12 weeks, which I think makes my last day right before Thanksgiving.

The office in Joplin was destroyed in a tornado in May, which presents its own challenges, but I'm still super excited! I get chills every time I talk to people about this opportunity. It happened with so little effort on my part that it makes me wonder why I ever worry about anything. :-P

I think the thing that makes me the most excited is that life isn't thwarting me right now. For years, I've felt like life is a game of pinball; I thought I was the player, but I'm realizing that I'm just the ball. Maybe right now, I'm just in the chute waiting for God to thwack me out again, but I'm sure as anything going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Looking back, looking forward

Next week will be the 10-year anniversary of my first day of school, ever. As I walked across the street from home to college in my carefully-selected (probably very uncool) outfit, I had no way of knowing that...

In 10 years, I would be:

-still single

-still living with my parents

-okay with that

But I would have been happy to know that I would...

-Visit

   -20 states plus D.C.

   -6 countries

-Own 4 cars

-Bridesmaid in 4 weddings

I'd have been surprised to learn that I would...

-Fly across the ocean 14 times

-Move 13 times

-Regularly attend 6 churches

-Pierce my nose

I probably could have told you that I would...

-Lead at 2 Awana clubs

-Coach 8 Bible quizzes

-Own 3 laptops

-Get 0 tattoos

And I'm still surprised that I've had...

-10 jobs

-9 addresses in 3 countries

-7 apartment-mates

-3 lay-offs

-2 bed-bunk mates

-0 boyfriends

The longest I've gone without a major life-change since that first fateful day of college is 9 months, and even in that time I got a car and made some great friends.

Coming up in a couple of weeks here, I'm getting to make some more exciting life changes! Details in a post to come.

Crazy song lyrics

I've realized that when it comes to music, some people are lyrics people and some are not. Some people think the lyrics make or break the song; some say it's the beat; others, the melody.

It may not surprise you that I'm a lyrics person. If I can't understand the lyrics, it drives me crazy. If I do understand the lyrics, and the grammar is bad, that's even worse.

Anyway, I get frustrated by the fact that a large percentage of the new top-40 songs these days is about going clubbing and/or partying without regard for consequences. That in itself wouldn't prompt me to blog, but J-Lo's new-ish song "On the Floor," with its catchy rhythms and dance-able beat makes me think some people may need to pay just a leeeeeetle more attention to lyrics.

The song is about going out partying at some club or other, and about all the things that happen on the dance floor. I had assumed she was trying to make such partying attractive and trying to get more people to party like her. But then I looked up the lyrics.

Here is a list of all the things the singer encourages her audience to do to - or on - the floor:
gotta get on the floor
step on the floor
tear up the floor
Break a sweat on the floor
work on the floor
Pick your body up and drop it on the floor
Let the rhythm change your world on the floor
running [poop] tonight on the floor
Live your life, and stay young on the floor
Grab somebody drink a little more
gon’ be it on the floor
clap your hands on the floor
keep on rockin’, rock it up on the floor
kill it on the floor
Steal it quick on the floor
It's getting ill, it’s getting sick on the floor
never quit, never rest on the floor
probably die on the floor

She has it all: nonsense (be it on the floor, stay young on the floor), destructive behavior (tear up the floor), felonies (kill it on the floor, steal it quick on the floor), irresponsibility (drink a little more), pain (pick your body up and drop it on the floor), completely disgusting stuff (sick on the floor, [poop] on the floor), and death (probably die on the floor).

Well, all except anything actually attractive about clubbing/partying. My conclusion: it's a tongue-in-cheek song poking fun at people who dance wildly at parties without paying attention to anyone around them.

Although I'll say this: J-Lo's latest song makes more sense than anything Ke$ha's ever sung.