Working on the weekend is weird. I feel like I'm in one of those zombie movies where everyone is gone but me, and any moment the living dead are going to pop out and eat my brain. I just took a walk about the industrial park where my work is, and it's got a very post-apocalyptic vibe. No one's around, lots of heavy machinery sitting idle, flocks of pigeons everywhere, ruling the roost for a couple of days while the humans are gone.
It's a bit depressing, but on the plus side I thought of a great name for a band: Apocalypso! Unfortunately, other people thought of it a long time ago... just like most of my ideas. Oh well. Time to go home.
I'm in one of those moods where I don't want to do any of the things I can think of doing. I don't really want to call anyone, though I'd probably go out if someone called me. I want to read, but I just finished The Grim Grotto and so it's hard to switch gears and read something else. I want to work on the new novel I'm writing, but the words aren't coming as fast as my brain is working. I want to just sit and stare at the wall for a while, but then I get jittery and can't stick with it. I'm not hungry, and I had to force myself to eat lunch. I got an Ultimate Pollo Bowl from El Pollo Loco; it's pretty tasty, but it left me feeling bland. The message light on my phone is blinking, but I think I'll wait till Monday to check it. There's no one else here, so it can't be urgent, right?
I want something exciting to happen. Exciting, yet not depressing or challenging in any way. Something that's not a mixed blessing, but just a plain old straight up blessing. Something that I didn't plan for myself. Like, it'd be cool to find a treasure map. If I had a GPS I might go geocaching, but I don't. I could go buy one, but that would violate rule three. I could start an Action Squad, but I'm more in the mood to just join one. Starting things take energy, and would again violate rule three. I just want something to happen out of nowhere, is that too much to ask?
Let's see... I could get a grail diary or some other important package in the mail, that would be nice. I could get a mysterious phone call, or even a call from someone I haven't heard from in a while, or even a telegram. I could get a letter from a publisher who wants to buy my last book... that technically would violate rule three, but since the work has already been done it's practically like finding treasure. Hmmm... what other kinds of surprises are there besides phone calls, letters, and finding things on the street? Well, someone could just walk up to my door, but that rarely happens.
Anyway, I bet lots of people want surprising and exciting things to happen to them. I could try to surprise someone else, but I don't have any good ideas at the moment for doing so. If anyone out there wants to be surprised, let me know what kind of excitement you want and when you want it and I'll do my best to make it happen.
Never heard of The Grim Grotto. How was it?
M: Excellently awesome.
Break rule 3 and buy a GPS. Geocaching is major fun.
OK, you have me going now. This is a juvenile book by Limony Snicket, 11th in a series? I'll have to bring it home in a brown paper bag. The local branch of the county library has scads of this book, they are all being read or on hold... quite a recommendation. One more question, if I may: What is the first book in the series?
Mny: The first is The Bad Beginning. You will buy it -- you will buy them all.
You may also want to check ebay and buy the set there, it looks pretty cheap.
Michael, I mentioned it to my 14-year-old and she has the first 3. I had actually read the first 20 or so pages of the first one several months ago. The author does have a certain charm.
M: The first three were enough to get me hooked, but they actually get quite a bit better as the series moves along.
hi michael:
"the grim grotto." thought it blew ... until chapters 12 and 13. elements of the first 11 chapters, such as melville on the uniforms, notes on the water cycle, the need for wasabi, etc., were amusing ... but snicket has an amazing affinity to redeem himself when circumstances are bleak. did you enjoy the entire book?
s: I enjoyed it alright. It wasn't as clever as SS, for instance, but it was fun. He needs some new gags, and I agree that the last couple of chapters were the best.