Today's Mailbag

This came through by email at work today:

dear my grilfriend do you love me baby cause I love grilfriend may you like to kiss I by I love you and I kiss you I am 18 year old baby donyt think about it

I love working with office supplies. You meet so many innnnnnteresting people.

A little from column A. A little from column B.

- purchases -
I thought the day I found Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman" on 45 was the best shopping moment of my life. Not so. Land's End Chalet shoes are the BOMB. They came just in time yesterday to walk through the snow to the bus stop. I'm tempted to ride the Le Tour in them today -- yes, it's still icy and will probably snow again, but I've got 4 interviews at work and 2 classes in between, you do the math. Bus don't go 'round here, law dog. And since the University of Oregon has a No-School-Closure-Until-An-H-Bomb-Drops policy, I've got to bundle up in 3 layers of clothes and hit the road. T'anks God for Lands End, that's all I'm sayin'.

- pet -
Waiting to pick up a Siamese named Checkers. Cousin/roommate and I are really against having a pet named after a Nixon graft scandal, so we're re-naming her Veda, after the spoiled bad girl in "Mildred Pierce". Trouble is the shelter's been closed because of the weather ... if only they all had Land's End Chalet shoes ...

- peevish -
Economics was canceled yesterday, so the exam is pushed back until next Monday, but while I was failing the pop quiz last Friday I realized that I've suddenly started living only in the present. I can remember 5 minutes ago, but not 2 days ago. Supply curve and the equilibrium? It was a complete mystery. It's just goes somewhere out of my head when I leave the class and I'm sure it's connected with Alzheimer's or the death of the pet. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it all the way through the end of term. Maybe I can get some pity points -- which some kids were trying to get in Astronomy yesterday because they went to a funeral last week and couldn't study ... it had nothing to do with that bud with the long stem they had afterwards that was, dude, so awesome.

Oh pet, my pet

So, I'm not a cat person. Honest. I don't have a collection of Life Magazines in the closest or fluffy pink sweatshirts or junk like that. I'm regular folk. But, man, this has been a really hard week to get through without something fluffy to welcome me home (barring cousin/roommate). I'm desperate for a replacement pet, and I almost picked one up at the animal shelter, but cousin/roommate noticed a wonky eye and made me step away. Not that I have to have the perfect pet, but I just don't think I can handle another dose of deciding whether an animal lives or dies. It's just not my thing. Can I just get one without a wonky eye, diabetes, kitty HIV or chiggers? Am I asking for too much?

To help through the week I've been failing classes, trying to finish "God's Chinese Son" (which is really good, but I keep running out of time in the day to read it), and sorting through "The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007" edited by my hero, Dave Eggers. Among the tonic inside:

Best American Names of Horses Expected to Have Undistinguished Careers

Ayn Rand's Condescending Sigh
Exit Strategy
For the Love of God Run Faster
Hell is Other Horses
- and my favorite:
Tripsy McStumble

Go buy this book. Buy it now. Even if it's just for "Bathing Ed Asner" (that's all I'm sayin').

I just noticed that the last post was dated January 15th. That was when I started one about some nerdy "Blade Runner" topic and then had kept it to be edited later ... which I never did and just used the area for the pet blog. She passed away on Friday ... which makes it look like I was physic.

My Pet

So, this week Cat did not get better. She was still taking the steroids, but things deteriorated really fast. She was aware that cousin/roommate and I were in the room and figured that we were decent folk because we fed her n' stuff, but she just didn't seem to know really who the hell we were or why we were in her space. Her left leg was dead -- I'd pull on a claw and get no reaction. She didn't even get out of bed or eat yesterday.

Rather than take her in the car (which she hated) to the humane society, I called a house call vet, who gently put Cat to sleep on her favorite comforter. We played Cecilia Bartoli singing Mozart arias (Cat liked the Carpenters, and I had put it on, but at "We've Only Just Begun" I had to take it off the record player), and it was really lovely and still makes me cry, because it was very sweet and gentle, and I hope one day they make that service available for people.

RIP jungle cat

Mas

Two things left off of the Oregon Week in Review:

The rain paints from REI are sweeeeeeeet sweetback. Thank you, Santa! And I broke my pedals on the bike on Day 3, but they were replaced with pedals from the cousin/roommate's dad's old bike (not a Schwinn) and they're nice, like safety first solid feckin' a nice. Don't get me wrong, I loved the old school Japanese craftsmanship of the Schwinn, and, in considering the overall appearance of the La Tour, they were certainly part of the ambiance, but they broke like glass. End of story. If only there was a bicycle pick-a-part ...

And, all things considered, after looking at them side-by-side ... for all his faults Wes Anderson is more entertaining than Vittorio de Sica. Man ... "The Bicycle Thief" is just a great big super double-bummer.

That is all.

The moral of the story is ...

Yesterday cousin/roommate and I went to the Pick-A-Park junk yard. Every time we pass it on the way to the supermarket I bounce around the car and make monkey sounds like my cousin's German pointer used to do when we went to the dog park.

You're supposed to sign in and pay a dollar to go in. We signed in, but didn't pay the dollar. They didn't make us sign out, so do they think we're still in there somewhere ...? It's a mystery.

There were lots of sweet cars. Really old Saabs, a Rambler, some fun panel vans like my dad used to have, and plenty of great treasures.

I axed the cousin/roommate where the cars came from, because a lot of them still had personal junk inside -- one even had toys, some had clothes, most of them had owners manuals and maps. He said they come from accidents where the car is totaled or they were in tow yards and no one picked them up.

So I peek into this Volkswagon and it's got two holes in the windshield, and the front end is pushed in and the top is crushed, and on the floor inside were about 20 empty cans of Coors Light.

Dude. It was worse than thrift shops: the clothes may be from people who died, but you don't really which ones. It could be that the sweater just didn't fit anymore. There's way to tell. And, sure, maybe those cans are from later when it sat in some empty lot somewhere, but since Pick-A-Part has an electric fence, it's unlikely that they were some recent addition. So it really kind of creeped me out.

The trucks with the buckshot holes tho' ... that's cool ...

I wonder if they'd let me in with a camera. I'd pay the dollar this time.

Oregon Week in Review

Economics -- so you add the sunk cost to the opportunity cost or to the overall cost? And if it changes the value, why does going to a party still have a better net worth than going to the movies even if you've already bought the movie ticket?

Astronomy -- the first day I thought he was speaking in tongues because I was so flippin' tired, and he was doing an overview of last term. I thought I was going to cry. Day 2 was better. We learned how light is a particle and a wave -- dude, it's like physics n' stuff!

Media Aesthetics -- probably going to end up being the class with the most work to do, which is kind of okay and kind of not. Time is a sunk cost. But we get to watch some decent movies ("Halloween") and I like the instructor -- he was my GTF for History of Film last year and is a good egg. I think we may have differing opinions about John Wayne, and the meaning of the burning house in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" but that's okay.

History of Film -- it's all global cinema, with the exception of "Rebel Without a Cause" and the 1976 version of "King Kong" (as an aside: I once said that if I was a guest speaker in the cousin's film class I'd show Ken Russell's "Mahler" ... now I understand how badly that would go down). The discussion section is irritating -- this week some oldster blabbed on about his last trip to Beijing and took up time which could have been spent discussing the effing film. But, whatever. We'd seen Zhang Ke Jia's "The World" and it was okay ... I don't know, anytime there's suicide at the end, it just screams "cop out" to me (yes, even "Romeo and Juliet"), so maybe it's better we didn't discuss it. This week we're watching the "Bicycle Thief" which I've got to somehow work into a presentation about "Hotel Chevalier" -- my partner has fallen into the "Wes Anderson as God" trap and really, really, really wants to use that for our film example. He'll require some leveling out if we're going to make this 3 minute presentation work. Vittorio de Sica ... Wes Anderson ... you know I love Wes, but ... well, you do the math.

Salvation Post

For everyone who has Googled me for a patiza / potica recipe, your moment has arrived. Fellow-blogger Marigold has provided your key to pastry heaven.

Click on THIS

For help on rolling the dough go to You Tube and search on "Naked Potica Movie" and you'll see my cousin (and friends) put it together on the dining room table.

Or just click on THIS

First Day Back - This is not a Haiku

- pens - check
- books - sort of check
- notebooks (what good are notebooks) - check
- air in the bike tires - check
- scotch guard on the new tai chi stick bag - so check
- rain jacket - check
- rain pants - check
.... oh, but it's snowing, not raining ... I don't have snow pants

cruel cruel nature.

I Heart Gritty Scottish Crime

In the last night of free media watching, cousin/roommate and I finished up watching the "Dead Giveaway" episode of "Taggart"-- by the way, the title seems to have nothing to do with the plot. I'm just sayin' ...

You haven't seen "Taggart"?? What's wrong with you? It was the Queen Mum's favorite show! I haven't seen the newer ones without Mike, and I only saw one or two after Taggart died, but it's the classic, older ones that are really worth watching. They employed more locals than the Glasgow Jobcentre.

Nuts that most of the DVD's are only available in the UK on that Region 2 encoding. Why? Why? Why? "Secrets", "Nest of Vipers" -- only in the UK. Cousin/roommate is fond of "Rogues' Gallery" which I have on a shaky television tape, and that's not available here or abroad. Dude, why?

However, in my search for episodes I found this available on Amazon:

I wouldn't ever wear anything like this, but I find it a comfort just to know it exists.

Madame Hateful's Predictions for 2008

I will fail Economics. Me + math = wha? Proof of this: I was not short about $300 on my school fees, but over. The amount having just been direct deposited into my bank by my school (which will subsequently be transferred back to the school when I buy all of the books I blew off buying last week -- 5 books for Economics and all over $70 ... used. What a racket. There's also a new edition of the film book I bought last year, which either means they've kept it current with recent examples and I'm f**ked, or they changed 2 words in Chapter 5 and they're just out to make a buck).

Cat will get better. I know, this is really dopey hopeful, but she chirped at birds the other day and this morning remembered that hitting the alarm clock is what wakes me up (she tries to hit it herself to make me get out of bed and feed her). She's still limpy and sleepy, but maybe the Barry Bonds are working finally. I've never had a pet die on me, or have had to personally consider taking them down the long walk. That was always dad's job. These have been strange days.

The political vision is very fuzzy. Though if Fred Thompson wants to run for President I think the field should be opened up to Scott Glenn, Courtney B. Vance, Alec Baldwin or any of the other memorable actors from "The Hunt for Red October." I'd vote for Jonesy in a half-minute. ("Con-sonar-crazy Ivan!")

I predict it will be rainy in Oregon this year.

That is all.