laborious labor day

I had to work. Not on Monday--thank-you-god-I-don't-work-retail--but on Saturday. I think we all foolishly thought since the weather was near perfect in Western Michigan and it was a holiday weekend the library would be slow.

It was not.

And we were short-staffed.

I spent my weekend with some old friends drinking martinis and talking about West Wing and spiders and bats and books and dealing with drunk caretakers and carpenter ants and cesspools. I also spent my weekend watching parts of Black Snake Moan which I initially wrote off given the mixed reviews but I'm now going to check out because it's the kinda movie I can rip apart and put back together. Plus Christina Ricci does get chained up. I also saw "The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico" which is an absolute must see if you're a Bob Dylan fan. Or a Jeff Tweedy fan. Or just a music fan. I'm still wondering how this movie ever got made in the first place, but it's a gem of thing. And rounding out my weekend of movies was "Little Children." Though those at rotten tomatoes loved it, I give it a thumbs down. Mostly because I really liked the first half. The second half fell apart into a big old nasty smelly mess. Which makes the fact that it was nominated for best adapted screenplay last year mindblowing. I'm sure it was a delightful novel and the cinematography was lovely, but I need a little more to sustain my interest.

I just finished the most wonderful book: "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing." It's a young adult novel that is better than most fiction coming out today. Truly outstanding. Inventive and challenging and well written. I initially had a big stack of young adult novels I was planning on reading, but they are all falling flat after Octavian. So the ya books are coming back to the library and up next (after I work my way through Anne Fadiman's new book of familiar essays) is "No Country for Old Men" by McCarthy in anticipation of the Coen brothers' movie.

I was a slacker this weekend where cooking is concerned. I just get sick and tired of doing dishes constantly. Aside from breakfast Sunday morning (tortillas stuffed with eggs and beans and cheese and potatoes and fresh salsa!) I've been subsisting on processed "foods" I'd prefer to forget. Tonight I'm making BIG stir fry: kale and carrots and broccoli and 3 different kinds of peppers and either tempeh or tofu or something. I cannot justify going to market tomorrow unless I eat up what's left of Saturday's haul. And I need to go to market as it's days are numbered.

Sigh.