How oral is your family?

I recently read Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The basic premise of the book was a young man grows up with no real knowledge of his family’s rich heritage. He goes on a life-changing journey to find this family’s roots and discovers they have a fascinating oral history. It wasn’t until the end of the book that I really came to appreciate one of its most basic messages – that oral traditions of a family can be important. Since I come from a long line of verbose storytellers, I realize I have taken it for granted that all families pass down stories. I grew up hearing Civil War tales from my great-grandmother that had been told to her by HER grandfather. When I was little, and couldn’t sleep, my grandma would tell all sorts of stories, long into the night, about exactly how life was for her when she was a little girl growing up during the Depression (Only 2 pairs of new shoes a year?? Only the radio? Only the Sears-Roebuck catalog? “The madness!”, my 7-year old brain screamed.) When the family is together, we of the younger generation laugh right along with my grandma and her siblings as they tell the same silly stories over and over – we have heard them so often by now, it’s as if we were there, also.

One of my grandma’s brothers (the “baby” of the family) passed away on Saturday. He was only 68 and as my family tends to live well into their 80s and beyond, we are in a bit of shock – with the overlap of generations my great-uncle was not much older than my own father and in fact, his son is my age. It’s all starting to become clear that the older generation will not be here forever. We’ve been so incredibly fortunate to have lost so few, but frankly, the writing is on the wall. Since we aren’t the Kennedys (our Irish surname is certainly less illustrious. Buh-lieve you me.), one of my cousins and I are afraid that many of these stories will be lost. Therefore, over the next few months, we are going to work on documenting as many of these stories and memories that we can.

While many of my posts this week may be family-oriented or slightly philosophical, don’t be surprised if there is some humor in them as well. My family can’t resist telling a good off-color joke or relating a funny memory. Even at funerals. Although they are a little repressed and they’d rather remember only the good times and pretend the bad never happened, that is just the way they are. They grieve the same way, too.

And I am glad for it.

Can you do the Shuffle, again?

My iPot, er, iPod is toast. Oh, it's fixable, don't get me wrong. However, it's to the tune of $149. OUCH.

So, I did go ahead and pick up the iPod Shuffle. So far, so good! If you already have iTunes, it's a cinch to set up. You install the iPod Updater from the CD, restart, then plug the damn thing in. It's basically Plug n' Play which is par for the course with Apple (Rancid Tangent: as a relatively new Mac user, this still creeps me out sometimes - I mean, you can plug something in and it's like the iMac is an overeager hostess greeting the new device with a cocktail saying "Hi! Welcome! Come on in! Glad to meet you!"). Anyway, the Shuffle is exactly what you expect - very teeny, tiny and portable. The sound is comparable to a regular iPod (it's cuh-razy that this is only Flash!) I can't wait to get this puppy to the gym tomorrow.

However, I would still like a regular iPod because I use the Browse and Playlist functions so frequently. I am just not sure if I want a regular iPod or an iPod Mini, therefore the Shuffle is perfect for the interim. Hmmmm, my birthday is coming............ No, X doesn't read my blog (sob!) so unfortunately it's not as if I am hinting.

Anyway, I have a sad, difficult weekend coming and this is certainly a bright spot in it. MAN!! A Gadget Purchase is really a sort of high.

Sigh.

Mutter Much?

Fitness Center Observations: I have been enjoying the great spectator sport of watching New Year’s Nitwits who have no business lifting weights try to do exactly just that. It horrifies me to see people throwing their bodies to and fro in the obvious attempt to lift as much weight as possible, not realizing the ramifications of inertia and centripetal force. Dude, you’re about 50 lbs. past high school. No one is impressed. I would laugh at this if I wasn’t so occupied just trying to get on a machine. There are inconsiderate persons out there who think it is acceptable to place a towel on 2 different machines so they can go back and forth between them. And what happens when 2-3 people are doing this? You do the math. The Towel Save is not cool, people.

BBC Affliction: I think I may be watching too much BBC. I was typing an email to a friend and referred to my nephew as a “little bugger”. The minute it came out of my fingers, I hesitated, then cringed (Note for non-Anglophiles – bugger is the Brit equivalent of the F-word). Talk about a conflict of emotion. I did erase and change the word – all the while knowing I am a FREAK.

New Party Trick: My latest hobby (obsession) is I recently discovered that on each dollar bill, there is a code that tells you which of the 12 Federal Reserves released it into the wild. Now, whenever I receive change back, I CAN’T STOP myself from looking at the damn thing and figuring out which Fed released it. I am sure there are cashiers all over the metro gnashing their teeth at the girl* who painstakingly “counted” her change.

The Big Burper Update: Unfortunately, snorting has been added to her repertoire. And she does this when she is cracking HERSELF up. I wish I could record it and share my misery with the world. I’m telling you, she is shameless!

Strange Cat Behavior: While I can’t compete with Rozanne’s recent kitty story , my own cat, H., has been doing something lately that is pretty funny. When I get home and am unloading the car, I have to be careful that he hasn’t jumped in the car while I wasn’t looking. It seems, he likes to hop in there now and hang out. Granted, we did go through a period last fall where he was riding in it 2-3 times a week. (full story, if you care, are in some of the archived posts here ) However, you would think that he had gotten burned out on the whole experience. Oh well, at least he hasn’t hitchhiked back to the old house again. Then again, maybe that’s what he’s waiting for - a free ride.

Wallpaper Guilt: I have mentioned that I knew the previous owners (POs) of the New House before we bought the house. In fact, I have known them for quite a long time as I have worked off and on for the husband over the past 9+ years. I have also mentioned that I have been removing an extensive amount of wallpaper that was included as a “bonus” with the house (the POs made a point of telling us how much they spent on the interior decorator). This stuff was bright, flowery wallpaper. Loads and loads of flowers**. Well, my friends, these 2 worlds are about to collide. The POs are coming this weekend to pick some things up from the house (their new house isn’t done yet and we let them store some things in the meantime). There is no way they can avoid seeing the kitchen – which has the unique distinction of being both the worst of the Wallpaper Offenses in the house AND the brightest of the color changes we initiated (Dahlia Orangish-Yellow). It’s one thing to redecorate; it’s another to completely rip out someone else’s hard work, thus saying “Your taste was crep.”

Even the Best of Vacations Can Wear Thin: Much like my sister got sick and tired of living in Hawaii, I am sick and tired of X being gone. I want someone besides the cats pestering me for food and attention. I am tired of snore-free nights. Come home, X!

*Yes, I still refer to myself as a "girl". I am a patron, not a matron. Get over it.
**I do not, nor have I ever discriminated against flowers. Rancid Raves’ le Manse maintains an open-door policy to flowers of all kinds. Just not on our wallpaper, please.

Are you listening?

I am not a huge audio book buff, but I have become addicted to certain types of books on tape. For example, although I have already read the Harry Potter books several times over, I have recently been making my way through the audio versions. While I could never recommend audio books over text, the audio versions of HP are a completely different experience than the written ones and make a great extension (i.e. I would never “listen” to them before “reading” them). The narrator, Jim Dale, is a mastermind of voices and performs remarkable renditions of the characters. In fact, he is so proficient; he could give Sally Field a run for her money. I find myself in the car getting chills down my spine in certain parts and laughing out loud in yet others.

I also found that listening to the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy book was so enjoyable that I can’t imagine actually reading this book. Since it was narrated by the Queer Eyes themselves, the book was equally entertaining as it was informative.

David Sedaris’ new book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, is waiting for me at the library in audio form. I did check out the written book, but I think Sedaris’ writing style lends itself to narration – in print, he comes across as very dry. He is amusing, but I have heard his audio books are superior to his written ones and I can’t wait to find out.

So, while I don’t think I could ever get “all up into that” with audio books, I do think in the future I will be selecting certain types of book solely for listening – in particular, humorists, some non-fiction, and a few pieces of children’s lit that I have been wanting to re-read.

Can you do The Shuffle?

Yeah, my iPod is iPoop right now. I will be sending it off to be examined at iPod ResQ based on a recommendation from the Apple Store “Geniuses”. I am very hopeful because I do think it is simply a bad headphone jack (I could even tell on the newer iPod models that the headphone jack had been modified so that it was tighter fit.) While at the Apple Store, it was hard to shake off the sad looks of sympathy from said “Geniuses” as their eyes swept over my 1st Generation (read: old, outdated) machine. I will say this: there is no incentive to buy a newer model - I thought it was interesting that there is very little difference between my old iPod and the new ones – the newbies may look a tad sleeker and have bigger hard drives, but they actually went BACK to the original design with buttons surrounding the Click Wheel (which was a smart move). Additionally, I am not close to using all of my 10Gs yet so there is no real incentive to buy a new one. My Old Guy suits me fine for now.

However, I am looking into purchasing the iPod Shuffle. Despite Goofy Girl’s best attempts at convincing me otherwise, the iPod Shuffle is not a viable substitute for an actual iPod. Besides not including a display and having minimum capacity (it is just flash memory, after all), the Shuffle doesn’t offer any Playlists or Browse functions. Also, I like the option of carrying my entire Library with me. Nevertheless, the little guy is ideal for my gym quandary and for all the yardwork I am "looking forward" to this spring. In the meantime, I am musicLESS while on the go and it is killing me (softly?).