Out of Cortex

Travels with Casey

I saw this on The Daily What today, and I have to say that I think this guy, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, is living the dream. Imagine hanging out with your bestie and traveling all over the place to meet other dogs across the country? 

He is basically a New York Times writer who is using the excuse of writing a book about dogs in America to go on a super road tirp with his best friend, Casey. He (Benoit, not Casey) says of his trip: 

I am traveling around the country in an El Monte RV with my dog, Casey, as I work on my book about dogs in America (to be published in 2013 by Simon & Schuster). I hope you will (virtually) come along for the ride.

Think of what his publicity could do for dogs! I don't know if that is his aim though. He's seen some amazing dogs though, and he's passed through some shelters (not to mention, his BFF Casey is also awesome). In fact, some of the photos below (like the dog hanging onto a man for dear life or the black dog snuggled down on the bed next to Casey) are all shelter dogs. The one hanging on to the man has been claimed and has found his forever home. The black dog was scared about traveling in doors and had to be carried, but she got a treat and found that she really loves beds. Aw! What good little stories, right? And I know he's done some rescue work, so how could he not write on this topic? I have faith that he will. There is an abandoned pet epidemic in the United States. And it's not like "oh no, we have to change our way of life to stop it!" Rather, we can just take small steps that will decrease the number of unwanted pets (spay and neuter your pets, don't take one pets you can't afford or be responsible for, and adopt!). 

There are really are some wonderful dogs out there though, and I've been thinking that it's especially sad because we've placed dogs in this completely reliant situation. I mean, yes, they can survive on their own but we've bred them to love us and want to be near us and some breeds actually can't survive very well on their own (think bulldogs, whose wrinkly faces actually get infected and which require cleaning by their human companions). I think there are some great people out there helping out, and it gives me hope. Like this guy, Eldad Hagar, who posts amazing inspirational rescue videos (with somewhat distracting music playing over the clips, but hey, I'm sure he has a budget and time constraints). Check out the rescue video of this beautiful pitbull named Nala (originally Blu) who is just terrified and sweet.

 

Tell me this isn't adorably sweet? Most of the dogs in Eldad's videos have no idea what it's like to be petted. There was this dog, Duke, who was snarling and raising his hackles, but when he realized the hand wasn't lowering to hit or hurt him, he looked confused and then comforted. Other dogs, like Ralph, were biting in fear but once they petted him with a rolled up blanket, and then slowly transitioned into using a hand, he realized what a beautiful feeling it was to be loved and he totally came out of his shell. It's so heartwarming and sad at the same time. In case you couldn't see the video (sometimes the embedding is weird) here are some snapshots. 

Cheers to stories with happy endings for our four-legged friends!

Walking, Seeing, Living

Anyone who knows me will testify that I am lazy. I don't like to work out (I am very surly when it comes to going to the gym, and poor Mike has to all but drag me), I hate walking up the hill to class, and I don't particularly enjoy doing most kinds of work. However, even when my feet are tired, I am usually in the mood to travel. My thoughts exactly (below). 

What usually stops me is that 1) travel is expensive, 2) I have no money, and 3) my travel buddy [Mike] usually has the same lack of luxury funds as I. But guess what I saw on Ideeli?

IRELAND CASTLE VACATION

 Including airfare, hotel stays for 6 nights, and a rental care, the grand total is a mere $1,119 (saving the buyer about $400 down from $1,599)!!!  Here's the plan...

Destination: Ireland Castles Vacation

Feel like you could use some of that famed luck of the Irish? Well, there's no better place to get a heaping dose than the rolling green hills of Ireland. This summer and fall, explore the Emerald Isle with this self-guided, six-night trip designed by Sceptre Tours, including a rental car and non-stop, round-trip flights to Dublin from NYC, Boston, and Chicago.

Start your adventure in Dublin, where you'll stay at the four-star Dunboyne Castle Hotel (located a quick 25-minutes outside the city). The modern, well-appointed hotel was originally built in the 18th century as the seat of the Barons of Dunboyne. After a traditional Irish breakfast of bacon, sausages, and eggs, hop in your car and drive the three and a half hours across the verdant countryside to rugged Donegal–stopping to take in the charming towns and castles along the way. In Donegal, one of the least touristy and most beautiful counties, you'll spend two nights at the five-star Lough Eske Castle Hotel & Spa, a stunning lakeside property considered to be one of Ireland's best hotels.

Continue south through County Sligo–known as Yeats Country for its strong influence on the poet W.B. Yeats–to the lively seaside city of Galway, where you'll spend two nights at Genlo Abbey (just three miles outside the city center). Be sure to have dinner at its Pullman Restaurant, housed in two old rail cars that were used as the set for the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express. Then head back across the country to Dublin for a night at the restored 18th-century Fitzpatricks Castle Hotel, overlooking Dublin Bay, before you say farewell to this magical island.

The Essentials

• Roundtrip nonstop airfare to Dublin on Aer Lingus from New York (included), Boston (+$25), and Chicago (+$50)
• 1 night in County Meath at 4-star Dunboyne Castle Hotel, 2 nights in Donegal at 5-star Lough Eske Castle Hotel & Spa, 2 nights in Galway at the 5-star Glenlo Abbey, 1 night in Dublin at the 4-star Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel
• Standard car rental for duration of your stay
• Travel Sept. 7 - Oct. 26, 2012 (included) and July 9 - Aug. 22, 2012 (+$200)
• Includes all mandatory airfare taxes & fees
• Offer price is per person based on 2-4 people traveling together.
• Select Sunday-Thursday departures, Sept. 8 - Oct. 31, 2012 OR travel July 8 - August 22, 2012, with select Sunday-Thursday departures, available for $200 more per person

Ireland is AMAZING, and this deal is just mindblowing. Gosh I want to go for a post-bar trip! Speaking of traveling (hmm, actually this is an unrelated segway...) ZOMG... Check out this awesome AMA on reddit with Steven Yeun! He seems pretty funny and down to earth. It makes me like his character Glenn on Walking Dead even more (he was already one of my favorites, as he is the most likeable and unselfish I think). For something totally unrelated except that it deals with some kind of animation/cartoon, check this out (mindblowing, right?!):

 

Speaking of cartoons, I also think this would be a really interesting talk to attend (see flyer below). Cornell does attract some good speakers. I just haven't been as involved with that kind of thing as I was in undergrad. Now I'm kind of regretting it. There is also another cool one on dining ettiquette (why at the law school, I have no idea...maybe because lawyers are sometimes slobs?) coming up too!

 

On another side note, I read this book titled "Why we Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows" by Melanie Joy, PhD (University of Massachusetts). It's this fascinating, and very sad, survey of the psychology behind eating meat generally and specific animals. She explores living conditions of the animals we raise to consume and to wear, while wondering at whether any difference exists between edible animals and non-edible animals (there aren't really any... take for example how affectionate and smart pigs are by comparing them to dogs and you'll see they're pretty much the same, only pigs may even be smarter). I highly recommend it... for anyone who claims to care for animals. It's inspired me to try and do my part, modestly yes, but my part nonetheless. I am going to work really hard to stick to an pescatarian diet from now on (except, like some animal rights people say, when eating birthday cake). 

 

 

Love and the Psychedelic

Today is a day or randomness so I will post some, yes, random letters and videos and news to celecbrate its randomness? Anyway, here goes, starting with a letter from 1958, in which John Steinbeck, author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, responds to a letter from his teenage son Thom. In Thom's letter, Thom confessed that he had fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan at his boarding school. Steinbeck wrote this wise and wonderful letter back to him the same day:

New York
November 10, 1958
Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First -- if you are in love -- that's a good thing -- that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second -- There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply -- of course it isn't puppy love.

But I don't think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it -- and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone -- there is no possible harm in saying so -- only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another -- but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I'm glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens -- The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

Isn't that lovely? The letter came from Letters of Note. And here is a photo of Steinbeck with his sons John and Thom in 1954, courtesy UC Berkeley. THe letter I quote above originally appeared in this book.

 

Now I leave you with these videos and this article I found.... 

 

See also: 

 

In sadder news... 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica, the mother of all alphabetized knowledge, will be putting its 244-year-old print business out to pastureeffective immediately.

This makes the august encyclopedia publisher’s 32-volume 2010 edition the last of its kind.

“Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now,” said Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. president Jorge Cauz. “The Web site is continuously updated, it’s much more expansive and it has multimedia.”

Indeed, over the last decade, Encyclopaedia Britannica has seen online rival Wikipedia slowly eat away at its market share, with its high-minded notions of free information for all by all.

By comparison, a complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica books will set you back a cool $1,395. Additionally, dead-tree tomes lack the self-correction and expansion features that come standard with Wikipedia, and are increasingly necessary in today’s fast-paced world of the 24-hour news cycle.

Curriculum products for schools have been Encyclopaedia Britannica primary source of revenue since encyclopedia sales peaked at 120,000 in 1990. According to the company, nearly all the other money it makes comes from subscriptions to its website. Print encyclopedias make up less than 1 percent its profits.

 Cheers guys! Have a nice rest of the week. 

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.... and Fanny?

The story of Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde and Fanny, the angry wife who burned the first draft:

One of the enduring mysteries of English literature was solved last night when it emerged that the first, impassioned draft of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was destroyed by the author's wife.

Fanny Stevenson burned it after dismissing it to a friend as "a quire full of utter nonsense". She said - of what became the world's most admired and profound horror story - "He said it was his greatest work. I shall burn it after I show it to you".

Stevenson, an invalid almost deranged by tuberculosis and the effects of medicinal cocaine, had to spend the next three days feverishly rewriting and redrafting the 30,000-word story by hand.

Within weeks, the new version of his pioneering novel about split personality was in print. Despite Fanny's view, it was an instant bestseller. Sermons were preached on it in thousands of churches, including St Paul's cathedral, London. It was pirated in the US and in translation.

It rescued the Stevensons from acute debt. For the first time, the couple had enough money to live comfortably.

Some 115 years later, Fanny's deed has been disclosed in a two-page letter on pages torn from a notebook. It was written by her in 1885 to Stevenson's close friend and fellow poet WE Henley.

Henley, who was one-legged, was the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. He is still known for the lines: "I am the master of my fate,/I am the captain of my soul".

'Distasteful'

The letter is expected to fetch some £1,500 at auction at Phillips in London on November 17. Yesterday, Liz Merry head of Phillips's book department, said the writer's wife apparently threw the manuscript on the fire because "she considered Dr Jekyll and the duality of man rather distasteful.

"It's my belief that she thought Dr Jekyll, which was partly based on a dream, was not worthy of him. She was also uneasy because he was writing it for a "shilling shocker" series of novels. It is ironic that it turned out to be one of his most successful books."

But other sources believe Fanny acted in a spirit of literary criticism rather than artistic vandalism. One biographer says she felt the first draft did not sufficiently bring out the theme of allegory which was to make the story so compelling to psychologists like Sigmund Freud.

Despite the Hollywood films which have been based on it, Stevenson's atmospheric novel contains no sex and little violence, though these are strongly implied.

But what is clear is that Fanny, with creditors at their door, was in despair about her sick husband's ability to produce publishable work.

In an earlier letter, she wrote: "Louis is possessed of a story that he will try to work at. To stop him seems to annoy him to such a degree that I am letting him alone as the better alternative; but I fear it will only be energy wasted - as all his late work has been."

The Scots author was recovering at the time from a haemorrhage and from the death of a close friend. He said he he wrote out of hunger and the need to survive "a few years more" to support his family.

The germ of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde came to him in a cocaine-induced nightmare in their Bournemouth home. His screams aroused Fanny, who indignantly woke him. "Why did you wake me?" he said. "I was dreaming a fine bogey tale."

Dawn found him writing frantically to capture and elaborate the dream on paper. He wrote the first draft in three days at an extraordinary rate of 10,000 words a day. Stephen King, the most modern prolific horror author, is content if he can achieve 1,000 words a day.

But scholars knew before yesterday that Fanny disliked the first draft. Before her letter was discovered, the Stevenson scholar, Alanna Knight, wrote: "Angrily, Stevenson threw it on the fire. For the next three days the family walked on tiptoe glimpsing him sitting up in bed, surrounded by written and torn-up pages". Together, the first and final drafts took him a total of six days.

Fanny wrote afterwards: "That an invalid in my husband's condition performed the manual labour alone seems incredible. He was suffering from continual haemorrhages and hardly allowed to speak, his conversation carried on by means of a slate and pencil."

Stevenson himself told a critic dourly: "The wheels of Byles the Butcher [a joking reference to his creditors, taken from George Eliot's novel Middlemarch] drive exceedingly swiftly."

Of his story, with its haunted moral that "man is not truly one, but truly two", he wrote to a friend: "I send you herewith a Gothic gnome, interesting I think, and he came out of a deep mine, where he guards the fountain of tears."

Gone forever, lost treasures

Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890)

The Victorian explorer and Orientalist, was known as an expert on every scholarly subject "including pornography" - he translated the Kama Sutra and, from rare Arabic manuscripts, The Perfumed Garden.

His more explicit writings were burned by his widow, Isobel, after his death.

Philip Larkin (1922-1985)

The publicly reticent poet, in one of the greatest losses to 20th century biography, left a will asking his companion, Monica Jones, to burn all of his personal diaries after his death in 1985. However, his indiscreet letters have survived

Camille Claudel (1864-1943)

The admired sculptor was the mistress of Auguste Rodin for 15 years. Her feelings of injustice at his hands led her frequently to destroy all the work in her studio. Taken by force to an asylum in 1913, where she died

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852)

The Russian dramatist and novelist fell victim to the "spiritual sadism" of an extreme Moscow priest, Father Matyev Konstantinovsky.

Ten days before Gogol's death in 1852, while mentally unbalanced, he burned the final volume of his masterpiece, Dead Souls, at the priest's order

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

The poet and painter was so distressed by the suicide of his wife Elizabeth Siddal from an overdose of laudanum in 1862 that he buried all his manuscripts with her.

Later he changed his mind and had her body exhumed to recover them. He justified this volte face by telling a friend, "Art was the only thing for which she felt very seriously"

Read it here.

Re-Meeting Old Friends

That's how I feel when I read a book I haven't touched in awhile: I feel like I've remeeting old friends. There's something powerful and beautiful about it, especially if you know the pain and drama that the characters are going to feel, all the death they may witness or experience. It's hard to see them going down that fated path. How much books do for us by enriching our minds, our hearts and our lives. That's why I hate seeing people who can't take care of their paged friends, and that's also why I have so much trouble throwing books away or giving them away. I don't want to see them in the trash, and I don't want them going to a home where no one will love them the way I do. 

This short film, titled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo pretty much captured how I feel about books when I'm down. They can lift your spirits and change your mind. The film evoked a sense of sadness and tenderness in me, kind of the way that Toy Story 3 made me wistful for my childhood days. The Fantastic Flying Books reminded me of all my childhood books and toys, and I remembered how I couldnt throw away pencils or erasers because I felt bad for discarding such trusty items. My drawers became retirement homes for such odds and ends. I wonder what became of them after we moved, as I had been in the same house for 20+ years and my mom helped me pack all my things to move into our new home because I was at school. Sad. 

I realize that none of my more recent posts are very uplifting. I guess that's what being in Ithaca does to you! But I have a back-logged post coming up documenting a night of photos, taken by Sepe. For now, love your books! Cheers. 

The Frog Prince

Don't overlook him.

He might just be a prince.

Private message, but I like how the card turned out.

Inspired by Fables: The Good Prince

Fables artwork

Probably my favorite in the series so far.

 

NUT UP OR SHUT UP!

FIRST
I watched Zombieland. It was fantastic. There were some really beautiful, classic moments. It was well cast, and there was an attention to detail that I really appreciated and didn't expect (see: "out of the six humans left in Zombieland", referencing the sister's legit zombie kill of the week). Sometimes, you just have to enjoy the little things (Rule 32).

See also:
Rule 1 - Cardio
Rule 2 - Double Tap [my personal favorite]
Rule 3 - Beware Bathrooms
Rule 4 - Seatbelts
.
Rule 17 - Don't be a Hero
Rule 18 - Limber Up
.
Rule 22 - When in Doubt, Know Your Way Out
.
Rule 31 - Check the Back Seat
�

SECOND
The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
I LOVE Max Brooks, and this was a great addition to my collection. :) Great (first half) of fall break.

Zombers

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks from Crown Publishing on Vimeo.

THIRD
I want to make these.
Red velvet raspberry cake with French vanilla cream cheese frosting and a chocolate brain...but I'd change add some lemon juice to the frosting...yum yum yum.�

Peaceful days, hectic nights.

Currently thinking: I can't sleep. Please read the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to me. Thanks.
Currently playing: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi (no connection at all to anything right now)
Just finished reading: Orson Scott Card - Enchantment (good read, very fun)
Just discovered: Snake with foot found in China (what a shame it was killed)

A splash of brightness on a grey day

Sage Chapel from the Stacks in Uris

Cayuga Lake through the haze

The leaves are changing and Fall is here

Do not remember taking this picture!

Ah, the beauty of wine and liquor once it hits your lips. What I do remember: Wolfgang group? My top four powers: Jean Grey, Mystique, Wolverine and Gambit. I'd be unstoppable. Marvel comics, I love you.

Sigh. Another week before me. I pray for the weekends. With that, I leave you with one last random thought: this would be my daemon, I think. Cheers.

Lily, the beautiful Caracol

Moosewood, drinks and Zoe

On Friday night, I went to the Commons and had the opportunity to visit that used bookstore that I fell in love with last time. And guess what? I found Ender's Game (which was what I was looking for last time, and the clerk told me that it never stays on the shelf for long)! I snatched it up, along with another Orson Scott Card classic (which I haven't read) entitled Enchantment. I was also mildly embarrassed by some rather explicit pictures in The Big Bang. But nevermind that now...the real reason I was in the Commons was to eat at Moosewood, an earthy, vegetarian- and vegan-friendly restaurant. They have different themes that might change nightly... tonight it's North African, and I don't remember what it was when I went, but it was tasty. I had the Arctic Char, with a really light but flavorful vegetable garnish. The Eggplant dish was delicious also, but I can't recall what was in it. What really stood out to me, though, was the carrot cake. Moist, with a perfect blend of carrot and spice, as well as a creamy but not overly-sweet frosting. I have yet to try the drinks, but they have a very decent selection so I'm excited to go back.

Later in the evening, I got to the Chapter House. Nice pub, well-priced, but over-crowded for sure. Maybe it was because I crashed a section D party, but regardless. I do have to note that the bouncer was really nice. I was trying to get back inside to tell a friend we were heading to Level B, but there was a line and I started pulling out my ID and getting into line when he was like "hey, go ahead. don't worry about it" and let me in. So, good times. Level B was fun, but crowded as well. Still, I went there for a good reason: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIFFANY! My fellow section E person and California native. I guess there really is nowhere to go in Ithaca... BUT I really enjoyed seeing my suitemate have a good time and dance a little. On the other hand, the extended after-party in my room resulted in me being useless/sleeping in until after 1pm. Doh.

After I finally mobilized, though, I grabbed a tasty sandwich from CTB (the Big Apple... homemade apply chutney and smoked Turkey!) and ate by the gorge. I'm glad I was focused on the food, though, because after I finished eating, I saw a rather disgustingly large and amazing mushroom/fungal growth of some kind on the tree behind me.

Strange Marshmallow-like Growth

Ummm....yea, it actually almost looks cute, like a huge oversized marshmallow, but then you realize it'll prob explode and spore all over you. As I was thinking this, James decides to poke it. I think I was definitely spored on. If I become a zombie, or there is some kind of outbreak, his name is James Paci. Blame him. 

 

Regardless of what may happen later, I was pretty productive in the library. Maybe that's because Con Law reading was actually interesting (we're doing abortion cases: Griswold, Roe, Maher, Doe, Harris, etc). The case analysis is much more exciting and current, even if the past cases (like Marbury) are arguably just as relevant. But let's not get into that right now... Maybe I'll have an academic-rant-post sometime later, but for now, out of sight out of mind. Speaking of which, Saturday night was another one of alcoholic beverages. Thanks to Phil (sorry, I crashed yet another law school shindig that I wasn't directly invited to). Good times?

Today, there was bad news and good news. The bad news is, I found another Wolf Spider trying to get into my window. I was terrified. It was huge. It had five legs (um, I don't know if it was attacked, maimed, deformed or some kind of mutated beast, but the last one also had fewer than 8 legs...what is this trend? I don't think it was the same one though...unless he's back for revenge. Please don't drink my blood...) The good news came later, when I sat out in the sun after a failed trip to the (closed) bookstore. Silver lining indeed. It was so beautiful and relaxing just overlooking the green field. I should have worn shorts, because it was so warm and comfortable, and I need a tan before the winter kicks in. The clearness of the sky was reflected in Cayuga lake, coloring it the perfect shade of blue. And on the way to the bookstore, I got a kiss from Storm (this old, distinguished-looking, white-muzzled, handsome devil of a golden retriever who was taking a walk with his owner). Yea, I'm in love.

Then it was back to the library to study, after which Angie invited Mike, Natasha and I over for dinner. That's when I committed yet another social faux pas, if you can call it that... I was eating a chip (in my defense, I was quite hungry) so I bit into it with a little more gusto than usual. Unexpectedly, a piece of salt or lime or whatever seasoned the chip flew up into my eye!!! It stung quite a bit... I know. Eating fail. Please don't judge me...

But then, I learned a valuable lesson from watching my new feline friend: close your eyes while eating or drinking. She went up to her kitty fountain and drank with her eyes closed so the water wouldn't splash on her face and obscure her vision. That is a very good trick. I'll remember that. Thank you so much, to Angie and Zoe ---- Dinner was so delicious! I learned a valuable life lesson. And I got to spend some time away from the books. Althogh I wish I had some of that wine... Maybe next time. And I'm so glad I got my animal fix for the day! ZOE!!! MY LOVE!!!

What a beautiful coat

Angie is so lucky that she gets to come home to this mewing bunch of love...so shy and so jealous...

Elegance in the best sense

Isn't she so beautiful? Look at the coat... In the first two pictures, the exposure is kind of weird. The flash made it kind of washed out, but when I turned it off, the shutter speed was too slow, so things got blurrier. But whatever. I can't capture Miss Zoe's elegance or regal sense of beauty on a point-and-shoot digital anyway!!

Such flexibility and dexterity!

Green eyes

Curious Kitty

The Huntress

ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE!!!! I love you, and your catnip-fiending ways!

Oh...note: someone from the law school sent out this message...

I'm looking for a dog-sitter over fall break (October 9th - October 17th).  He is a 12lb mini daschund and you can watch him at my place or at yours.  He requires very very little effort to take care of (some snuggling and fetch).  You can also have full use of my car during that week.

I'm willing to pay quite a bit so that I don't have to fly across the country with him so let me know if you're interested and we can work out the details.

I wish we could be friends...

Too bad she found someone to do it already... :(
Anyway, good weekend overall.... Ok, charge on ahead, with almost no light at the end of the tunnel... Cheers?

 

How well-read am I? Not very, apparently.

But better than most? Because...

BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'X' after those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X
6 The Bible- (some?)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte- X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - X
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - X

Total: 9.25

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - some
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

Total: 4.5

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - X

Total: 6

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma - Jane Austen - X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X

Total: 6

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

Total: 6

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - X
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X

Total: 6

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - X
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - X

Total: 5

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - X
76 The Inferno – Dante - X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

Total: 5

80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB Whit - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

Total: 3

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - X

Total: 7

Grand Total: 57.75