Because I am here to inform, as well as to entertain, I give you:


22 Peculiar Names for Groups of Animals
by the editors of Publications International, Ltd

Have you ever heard the expression, "a gaggle of geese?" These names for groups of animals are pretty peculiar, too.

1. A shrewdness of apes
2. A battery of barracudas
3. A kaleidoscope of butterflies
4. A quiver of cobras
5. A murder of crows
6. A convocation of eagles
7. A charm of finches
8. A skulk of foxes
9. A troubling of goldfish
10. A smack of jellyfish
11. A mob of kangaroos
12. An exaltation of larks
13. A troop of monkeys
14. A parliament of owls
15. An ostentation of peacocks
16. A rookery of penguins
17. A prickle of porcupines
18. An unkindness of ravens
19. A shiver of sharks
20. A pod of whales
21. A descent of woodpeckers
22. A zeal of zebras


I had only heard of some of these before and I am not embarrassed by how much I enjoy finding new ways of playing with language, so for my (adorable but) nerdy self, this is material of tremendous value. I assure you that if I was any kind of author, the title of my next book would be, “An Unkindness of Ravens.”

Aw, dang. Google tells me that Ruth Rendell has beaten me to the punch.

Oh well. It was a fine idea while it lasted. For a minute there I was a famous author with a brilliantly titled book. It was going to be a series, actually – one for each of the above. No more. I shall have to return to my normal life as an (adorable but) nerdy office manager with a secret identity as Helena Handbasket: defending Truth, Justice, Spelling and Punctuation; saving the world from jerks and people who can’t spell or properly use an apostrophe - armed only with fanciful hats and librarian glasses, a magical bag that one can reach into and find just the thing one needs and the ability to accomplish any multi-step task in the form of a montage set to a three minute long 80’s pop song.



Reading:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Also just read Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris. This was a collection of his essays and short stories that were on a holiday related theme. It started with "Santaland Diaries" (Because you can't consider yourself to be an uppity liberal intellectual and not have read that. Look it up. It's true.) and went from there. There was a great story called "Dinah the Christmas Whore" and some other extremely entertaining material.

Just started Snow in August by Pete Hamill. He wrote A Drinking Life which I just finished listening to in my car not too long ago. When I saw this one at the library I had to pick it up. I promised I'd finish Kavalier and Clay before anything else, but I didn't have it with me yesterday when I found myself spontaneously deciding to take an actual lunch break. But Snow in August was in my car, so I read the first few chapters over lunch.

Odd aside - At Monday night's rehearsal, I found needed a stand light for the benefit that I'm playing for on Friday night. So I left a message for my dad yesterday to see if he had one that I could borrow. He called me back a half hour later to say that yes, he happened to have one in his car and he was only a few minutes away from my office so I could come by and pick it up any time. So I ran over to where he was and decided to eat while I was out. But - I ask you - who in the world drives around with a music stand light in their car just in case? My family is weird.

Hearing:
The Shins, Papas Fritas, Jamie Cullum, Sufjan Stevens, Joseph Arthur, The Thorns, etc. - my usual office shuffle.

Playing:
Violin - Bach, very badly
Mandolin - The Decemberists, less badly

Needing:
Things to be less stressful.

In My Car:
44 Scotland Street, by Alexander McCall Smith - he originally wrote it as a serial for a newspaper, having gotten the idea while he was talking to Armistead Maupin at a party at Amy Tan's house. My friends should be so cool.