Jump to content

Menu

Stacia

Members
  • Posts

    27,488
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    123

Everything posted by Stacia

  1. It is so fortunate they are all out safely. I read one article that said after the boys & coach were out, as well as some but not all of the divers/support workers, the pumps failed & water very quickly rose in the cave, causing the last 20 divers (or so) to scramble to get out safely.
  2. So far, the few photos I have posted have been ones I've taken the day of the challenge. I was hoping to get a picture of the possum I often see in my yard at night, but I haven't seen him (or her) tonight. So, I dug up an old photo from 14 years ago. It's blurry, but one that makes me smile. We were at a local Greek festival with friends & my dd & her friend were dancing to the music in the amphitheater as the place shut down.... Fun times.
  3. I'd rather deal with a black bear any day over rattlesnakes or scorpions!
  4. Me: flip-flops, painted toenails, & a cat...
  5. This one is for fire and hot (taken Tuesday). Fire mage on ds' shirt. He was not amused as it was 99 degrees out. (He thinks it is 'hot' weather once it's above 65 or so....)
  6. Blue sky, blue water, blue house.
  7. FYI It Was The Water, FDA Says Of Romaine E. Coli Outbreak That Killed Five
  8. I like the three in the top row of your Pinterest page because they seem the shortest overall. Cute & easy & probably able to withstand humidity w/out the frizz or curl issues. (Ikwym re: getting curls & such in the humidity. A bit after I have a cut & when we're in humid days, I start reciting the childhood rhyme... "There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead... -- because that's what happens to me exactly! And it doesn't matter what I do, that curl in the middle of my forehead comes back no matter what. Lol.)
  9. We had a minivan that was still in great shape but needed some major repairs. (We were tired of fixing it & the manufacturer seemed to never figure out the real issue & fixed various "wrong" things & there were still issues.) It seemed a shame to "junk" it if someone had access to a mechanic who had the knowledge & was willing to fix it. I ended up looking around & found two groups that were interested. Ultimately, we went with a local, no-kill animal rescue group. One of their main volunteers was a mechanic & he said he would fix it for them. The mechanic guy came & picked it up for them. They wanted to use it for taking multiple animals to pet adoption days, vet visits, etc. I'm happy it went to them. Since it was fix-able & in good shape, I spent the extra time looking for a good donation place so that it could still serve a useful purpose for awhile longer.
  10. Echoing the Dolomites in Northern Italy. (Selva/Val Gardena.) Very family-friendly. Great hiking in summer (I felt like we were in the mountain meadows in the Sound of Music) & great skiing in winter.
  11. I used Stubhub a few years ago w/ no problem. I was thinking their fee is per purchase (vs. per seat like TM), but maybe I'm not remembering correctly or they have since changed their policy.
  12. Feed the World by Band Aid about the famine in Ethiopia (1983-85). And, songs by U2 like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride (In the Name of Love) -- raising social consciousness. So, some of the music was promoting social causes & awareness.
  13. I'll be the odd one out & say I tried this book but didn't finish. I found the style stilted & the story itself slow (too slow). It just never pulled me in. The characters were fine but I felt mostly neutral about them. I did find some of the small details interesting as I worked for Japanese companies for about ten years -- so small mentions of business etiquette brought back some memories for me. I'm glad others have enjoyed it & found beauty in it. I'll answer some of your other questions from the original post, Amira. Have I read something else like this? Not exactly, but I did read the non-fiction book The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester many years ago. It went into the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, so I was familiar with the epic task that dictionary-makers face. If you haven't read this one & enjoy non-fiction, I would highly recommend it. Have I read other books set in Japan? Yes. Looking back through my Goodreads listings, here are some that I've read & would recommend (in case anyone is looking to read more Japanese books or ones with Japanese settings...) Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki (I read this because in 2016, a robot of Sōseki was unveiled on the 100th anniversary of his death. I think the intent was partially to have him teach university classes, but I'm not sure if that fully happened. If you're curious about the robot, see here, here, & here. Also, related to the reading of The Great Passage, I saw somewhere -- can't remember where -- that the boarding house set-up was in homage to Sōseki's book Kokoro, which prominently features a boarding house; sort-of a bow to classic Japanese literature.) Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (I will admit I first picked up this book because the author's name is Banana!) The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (This won the Edgar Award, among others. It's an interesting take on a murder mystery because you know 'who-done-it' from the beginning of the book. The book instead focuses on the investigation & who will win the game of cat & mouse -- the killer or the police?) A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Loved, loved this book. It is set in both the US & in Japan.) Silk by Alessandro Baricco (A lovely, bittersweet piece of perfection.) In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn (A fascinating collection of Japanese folk tales told through the lens of a Westerner's eyes in turn-of-the-century Japan.) Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (Another collection. Somewhat reminded me of Aesop's fables in that a simple tale can provide food for thought, a trick, or a moral to ponder. ) 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions by Kenji Kawakami (A frivolous way to spend an hour. Presents the Japanese art of chindogu in which items are designed to be almost, but not quite, useful in real life.) Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball. (By an American author with a story set in Japan. Unique & fascinating.) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama (Concerns a troop of Japanese soldiers in Burma during WWII.) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (I think just about everyone has read this book.) Author Haruki Murakami (Last but certainly not least, I include Murakami by name because I've read quite a few of his books. If you're going to read contemporary Japanese literature, Murakami is your author. Be aware that his books are bizarre & unusual & may not appeal to everyone. In addition to reading quite a bit of his fiction, I read his non-fiction book Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche last year. It was interesting & thought-provoking & not a typical non-fiction book.)
  14. Various other non-fiction books I've read & recommend... Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (this is just a delightful book) Limonov: The Outrageous Adventures of the Radical Soviet Poet Who Became a Bum in New York, a Sensation in France, and a Political Antihero in Russia by Emmanuel Carrère West with the Night by Beryl Markham (remarkable) Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer by Mireya Mayor A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (his commentary about his travels with F. Scott Fitzgerald is hilarious & wonderful) Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire, both by Jack Weatherford
  15. As for non-fiction, I would have never guessed that I would enjoy an economics-based book, but I loved this one. Informative & entertaining... Narconomics by Tom Wainwright
  16. For tonight, I will recommend The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. Starred review from Kirkus:
  17. Know you will be surrounded in hugs & warm thoughts as you speak about your sister tomorrow.
  18. Maybe. But I am sure that store managers for Target & Starbucks are taught about patron interactions & they do have some knowledge of odd or uncomfortable interactions as they will be the ones dealing with things until police are able to arrive. It's not something I would necessarily think the barista is at the level to address, but management, yes. That's part of what management does in my experience. In many places, management needs to approach the person & politely tell them they are disturbing others or disregarding company policy, ask them to stop or whatever fits the scenario, etc. If, after those steps are done or the person gets belligerent or ignores what they have been asked to do or not do, then that's when typically police are called. So, at a minimum, I'd be contacting Target's management to make sure they know what is going on in their own location, as well as see if they have already done anything (with or without the police) to try to address the situation.
  19. I don't remember getting mileage paid (for either county or federal). Parking was free. (In the areas where I am, you would have to normally pay for parking.) At county, once everyone was checked in the main room, one of the judges came out to thank everyone for showing up to serve, explained what was going on (& that on Monday mornings, things tend to get delayed as last minute deals are made so you may wait awhile only to find out no juries are needed), & then we waited until they called groups. No food was served but there were drink/snack vending machines in the area where we waited. (And, we were confined to that area -- you couldn't go wandering around the building.) There was wi-fi & they did have a few counter areas available for those who wanted to use their laptops & such. We each were assigned to a group (I think 12 per group?); I was in group "A" for example. When they finally called groups, they would say, we need group A, group D, and group F to line up here & follow the bailiff. At that point, we were led to a courtroom & seated for questioning for jury selection for a particular case. Again, there was an overview & introductions so we knew what to expect & who was who. If you were selected for the jury, obviously you stayed & continued to come back each day per the judge's instructions. Once they selected the jury (I was picked), they sent the others out (back to the jury waiting room) & took a break before starting the actual trial about half an hour later. As a member of the jury, we were not allowed to walk around by ourselves in the building; we were always in escorted groups (to the bathrooms or the vending machines or outside for people needing smoke breaks). The judge was very accommodating of the jury & made sure there were regular breaks. When the case was ready to turn over to the jury, it was right at lunchtime the second or third day. That day, the judge had the bailiffs escort us as a group out to lunch at a nearby restaurant & the lunch was paid for by the court. (The bailiffs did suggest that non-alcoholic drinks be the choice at lunch, lol.) If not selected, you (along w/ the others) were taken by the bailiff back down to the waiting room area; you stay until dismissed (usually by mid-day they have seated all the juries they need) & tell you to call an automated line after 8pm each evening to see if you need to report back the next day. You need to be available for the entire week you are called but usually by Tuesday or Wednesday, the recording will tell you that you do not need to come in & report any more. We did get paid. I don't remember but I want to say they gave cash (maybe $15) that you signed for & collected at the end of the day. And we got a certificate saying that we had served & the date & that gave us exemption from serving for a set amount of time (one or two years, I think). For the federal trial, I don't remember as many details because it was a long time ago. It was definitely a much further drive for me. What I remember most about it was the stuff involving the actual trial & deliberations since I was selected. I don't remember the stuff about waiting around or things like that.
×
×
  • Create New...