Well, except for our new, improved New Year's Day! See, there were plannings this year. Plannings of how we would have a productive New Year's Day in which we did things, or at least things tangentally related, to things we want to do all year. Reading, writing, taking the finances in hand, eating well, etc. Instead, I had a terrible hangover, and Christopher wasn't 100 percent either, so we mostly just lazed and did nothing.

Okay, it would still be a lie to pretend we did everything today, so I'm officially extending the all new, better than the real thing New Year's Day to include Sunday as well. Then everything works out fine.

Someday, I'll have links again, but nothing was jumping out at me as terrifically interesting from la media today. A leftover of the year end fever hangover at the papers and stations, I suppose.

Went to the library and got many fine books, on Norse mythology and Latin American politics, and I wasn't in the least disappointed to learn that someone had checked out Glen Hirshberg's "The Two Sams: Ghost Stories" moments before we came in. I got "The Snowman's Children" instead and now find myself in the same sorry state of being overwhelmed with reading. I have a couple of things I have to read first for a story I may write, before getting into the actual rewrite of TGG, if not the notes for it. We'll see. Right now it's just a few swirlings of an idea that haven't formed themselves into anything particularly interesting yet.

WOW, you'd think my new year's resolution was to write really trite, dull blog entries or something. It's not, I promise.

Here, for controversies sake: it is not weird that the Nation of Islam is now bodyguarding Michael Jackson just typical, and hello the rest of the Jackson clan coming to your aid means nothing because that's like the crazy house coming to testify about how sane you are, typical also that the New York Times didn't fact check that story alleging that 60 Minutes paid for the interview (Ed Bradley is coming to kick your ass NYT, but hey, they prolly did), nor that he'd be tormented by police officers (c'mon do any of us really think we can know what passes for torment in Michael's mind -- like not being in the happy sharing tree? or allowed to spend $2 mil in a store on ugly giant urns?); our country will keep practicing completely ineffectual drug policies on all drugs EXCEPT those that kill athletes; cows don't seem particularly mad and y'know if you eat a ton of red meat maybe Mad Cow disease shouldn't be your biggest concern; the Dave Eggers bashing online in certain communities seems completely sour grape dancing, and The Believer isn't perfect but it's a _good_ magazine; most things that are rated are also overrated; and good wine should be cheaper.

(Okay, you're with me on the last one, right?)

earworm: "Wires and Waves," Rilo Kiley

random rec: THE BOOK OF EMBRACES, Eduardo Galeano (possible this is a repeat, but worth one)

namecheck: Karen "Really Does Have Great Taste in Movies" Meisner