SOC Sunday: A Winter Storm Seen from the Sky

I live in a condominium on the twelfth floor of a high rise building. The entire front and most of one side is floor to ceiling windows. We face South, mostly, though the windows afford us a large slice of East as far as the horizon allows, and the West until the skyscrapers disappear as the Chicago River veers.

We are under a full-fledged weather warning.

Whisper fine flakes of snow are swirling in the strong wind, beating into our windows. I can hear their wet pelting sound hit the glass. A bus drives below on LSD. Snow adding four inches to its height. A usually congested thoroughfare on any other day, the only cars on the road now are brave souls. It is probably a skating rink out there.

This is the first winter storm "event" I have witnessed so far this winter. Maybe we will get 14 inches, or 5, but it is pretty watching it develop down below, from above. It's a prospective I haven't had before. One hundred and forty some odd feet in the air.

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Five minutes, unedited, push publish.

Allthingsfadra.com  hosts the place to link up our stream of consciousness writing on Sundays. If I could, I would write this way everyday. I should. Just do it.

Taking Stock: A Meme

This meme called Taking Stock was easy, breezy, and fun to do. 

Making: stuck my tongue out at my husband just now, so a face.

Cooking: pots are cold, and will remain so.

Drinking: Fiji water from Costco

Reading: A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

Wanting: a glass of wine

Looking: for some quiet time after a busy weekend

Wasting: not away after eating a Turducken feast this weekend

Wishing: for more time with my friends

Enjoying: the couch with my feet propped up on the dog

Waiting: for my hubby to replace the dog and disturb the zen, which is just a matter of time

Liking: the view of the Riverwalk trees at dusk freshly lit with white lights, and the promise of good TV on this evening

Wondering: can’t believe I am saying or thinking this, “what’s for dinner?”

Loving: being horizontal

Listening: to the wind whipping wildly down the river from the 12th floor

Needing: to review some papers for my training, and sleep (desperately)

Smelling: fresh soap

Wearing: black leggings, long sleeve tee shirt, powder blue colored fleece jacket, and a pony tail

Following: the Bears game 

Noticing: the dryness of my lips 

Knowing: I have some really good friends

Thinking: I might fall asleep

Feeling: lucky

Bookmarking: Books from The Printer’s Row Journal

Opening: my mouth to yawn

Giggling: at a text message from one of my girlfriends

I realize it is Monday, but, to me in actual “writing time”, it is Sunday just as the sky is darkening (or 4:26pm, to be precise).

Nerd Alert! Books and Reading Habits

lisathatcher.com

This week’s questions over here are titled “Nerd Alert”, and they pertain to books and reading. How can I not participate in a meme about books and reading? Plus, I am definitely this kind of nerd!

1. Favorite childhood book? I have two, A Wrinkle in Time and The Phantom Tollbooth. I had the pleasure of revisiting them twice more when both of my children read them as kids. I also love Charlotte’s Web, but probably more so as an adult.
2. What are you reading right now? I am hopping around a bit, and having a little difficulty settling on one book. I am currently reading The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, Excitability: Selected Stories 1986- 1996 by Diane Williams, and Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. All are good in very different ways.
3. What books do you have on request at the library? None! I need to get a Chicago Public Library card. First, though, I need to buy a bus pass in order to get to the library. I can take the #29 bus. Not that I am afraid of walking. It is simply a very healthy walk there and back, and with winter coming and stuff…
4. Bad book habit? I obsessively order used, and sometimes new, books online from independent booksellers/stores. I frequent independent bookstores much too frequently! I need to get a bus pass!
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? I need a bus pass…
6. Do you have an e-reader? Yes, I have several, and everyone in my family uses them except for me. I do not care for reading on an e-reader.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? I prefer to read one with the hope of becoming so completely engrossed that I lose my mind. That doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but it did recently when I could not put down The Language of Flowers. Therefore, I usually have two or three going at a time with one definitely a collection of short stories.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting to blog? Not really except that I probably read a few less books. I have always been a “big” reader since childhood.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far)? I have read soooo many good books this year so if I had to give least favorites even though I did enjoy them, they would be The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick, or Night Film by Marisha Pessl.
10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? So many! Stoner by John Edward Williams, An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay, The Road by Cormac McCarthy to name a few!
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not often enough. Unfortunately, I like what I like.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? I like well written fiction that has some element of thought provocation. I also like short story collections, though these can be non-fiction too.
13. Can you read on the bus? I can, and do, read everywhere.
14. Favorite place to read? Is “anywhere” a place? In actuality, it is right where I am currently sitting. There may or may not be an indentation in the exact spot on the couch where I am inclined to read (it is pretty much “my” spot). I just got up and can confirm said indentation!
15. What is your book lending policy? I lend out all my books, all the time. I even lend out books I have yet to read. I trust the people to whom I lend. If they don’t return it/them, then they don’t. It’s on them. They should feel a little crummy about it since I was so generous. I’m kidding! I really don’t care that much if they are returned or not. They are just “things”. “Things” don’t matter much to me. In fact, I give away most of my books in order to fit more on my shelves.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books? Never on purpose!
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? I have on occasion, but only ever in pencil.
18. Not even in text books? Back in the day, I was a master highlighter. So the answer here is “yes”!
19. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? This is the hardest question. Geek Love by Katherine Dunne was recommended by someone who knows my book tastes fairly well, so I knew I would like this crazy tale. What I didn’t realize was just how much I would like it, I guess.
20. What makes you love a book? When I relate so much with a character that it’s like, “I have felt this too!”, or when it’s all I can think, or when I refuse to leave the house without it, or after turning the last page it’s all I want to think about, or can think about, or makes me think and feel something. It needs to transport me, either somewhere familiar or different, just somewhere else. Does this make sense?

What are you currently reading? What is your comfort zone or, maybe more importantly, discomfort zone? 

The Skeleton Twins: Movie Review

forbes.com

Since we are Catholic, mass “counts” for us if we go at 5:00pm on Saturdays. Never mind the loop hole sentiment, or screams of “Technicality!!!”, it works, and leaves us with Sunday mornings free. We often use them for movie dates. 

This morning, we saw a brand spanking new movie called The Skeleton Twins starring several traditionally hilarious actors like Kristen Wiig (my girl crush) and Bill Hader from SNL, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell (of Modern Family fame). Each is funny with impeccable comedic timing in most everything in which they star, just not in this movie. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are humorous exchanges and interactions. This movie is not about that though.

It is about siblings who were once close, grew apart, then are reunited under-less-than-desirable circumstances. It’s about trying to live your life. It’s about hurting, and hurting others. How parents, or other adults, can really fuck up kids in horrific, insensitive, and destructive ways by the decisions they make, or their actions, then it is up to those adult children to puzzle piece their lives back together again as best as they can. It’s about making mistakes, forgiving, and fucking up again. Try and wrap that up, and slap on a bow. Yet somehow, they share laughs. And we strangely laughed with them. 

The dialog was surprisingly intimate, and I felt like a “fly on the wall” observing these obviously sensitive and deeply connected siblings. They had an “us against the world” things going on. Though at one point, I was sick to my stomach, uncomfortable, with a strong desire to flee. Maybe I am being dramatic but it is how I felt for a brief time.

It is an intense movie with extremely strong, and disturbing subject matter. I don’t want to say too much so as not to spoil, but I found a review in Forbes magazine that describes it as “comedy and tragedy in perfect proportions”. In my opinion, the proportions are debatable (it was more dramatic to me), but there are both in this movie, and I highly recommend it (so long as you know there are trigger points in it as well).

So why did I stay? 

I stayed because I liked this film despite the bout(s) of nausea. Maybe because of it. Maybe I loved it. Yeah, I think I did.

SSOC: How I Spent Five Days Alone

Anything Jana says on Sunday is what we get to do. She says we can brain dump all we want as long as it’s only five minutes worth. I should probably focus, then, because I can think of more than that. I’m staying, purposely, away from the elections.

No topic. Unedited. Five minutes begins now:

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I’ve had the house to myself, life to myself, for the past five days and four nights. You'd have thought I’d have so much DONE in that stretch of time. Nada!

I don’t know about any of you but the more time I “think” I have, the more I flitter it away. Everything's put off until the very last split second so I can maximize my "wants" for the entire 4.75 days. Do you do this? 

So here's what I did/wanted to do with 4.75 days of alone time.

I saw six movies. Which also means I ate a whole gob of popcorn (stomach ache?). Four at the theater and two at home. Here’s a quick rating (thumbs up or down) for each*.

People Like Us- Two Thumbs way, way up! Loved it!

Moonrise Kingdom- One Thumb up, One thumb sideways…very quirky, occasionally a little too much even for me and even though I love quirky! You wouldn't believe everyone who is in this movie.

Argo- Two Thumbs more than enthusiastically pumped way up high. Stay thru the credits. Affleck, et al., were fantastic.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Two Thumbs up, with enthusiasm but wish certain parts didn’t seem over acted by Emma Watson who I did love in this. All kinds of emotions here. Of course tears from me.

Pitch Perfect- One Thumb up, One Thumb 45 degrees down-ish. Chick date night and this was perfect for us girls.

Seven Psychopaths- Two thumbs wanting to point straight up but shaky…It’s hilarious. You must like intensely dark humor (ME! ME!). Lot’s of fun if you like this stuff. I do!

I think I have time to squeeze in one more!

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*I cheated and added the movie photos outside the five minutes but of course you knew that.

The Comfy Cozies: Stream of Consciousness Sunday

It’s Stream of Consciousness Sunday at Jana’s Thinking Place. Her optional prompt today is:

What makes you feel cozy and safe?

The drill is always the same. Write for five minutes. Don’t edit what you write. Post what you have. Easy!

It’s chilly here probably because it’s in the mid-40s but it’s damp which makes it look colder and feel the same.

So making me feel cozy this very minute is sitting here in my softest sweats, sipping hot chocolate on my comfy down couch and writing this. Cozy, indeed. That’s what immediate, right now, cozy and safe feels like to me…being warm and comfy inside my house.

But cozy and safe in “life” is different than that; feels different.

To me, it’s my family and friends. Being with them, touching them physically and emotionally. Laughing together. Playing. Talking. Having little inside stories only the otherknows. Familiarity of a million types.

Yesterday, cozy was standing in a parking lot tailgating on a college campus, feeding my kids and their friends dogs and burgers while sipping Irish coffees with old friends.

Cozy and safe to me is a feeling not a structure. Never a particular set of four walls. It’s more about the “who” than the “what or where”. That’s the big picture application of cozy and safe to me.

Although, sitting on the same couch, under the same blanket with my hubby while he watches the Bears and I read….

This is the small picture view of cozy and safe. But I’m betting it’s the person and not the couch. And it’s the reading and the watching as we do something we both love that gives us that comfy cozy glow.