Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

1. Yesterday was a good book day. I was able to go to the Gary Shteyngart reading at the Skirball in LA last night, which came with his new book, and then Jane Mount’s Bibliophile arrived in the mail (I am a huge fan of hers. She and I have been friendly on Instagram for years, so it’s been awesome to see her rise). I was supposed to receive Bob Woodward’s book Fear, but, not surprisingly, it’s on back-order for a week.

2. I am currently reading China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan and while it’s still fun, I don’t think it was as good as the first one. I’m also still moving through The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and am really taking a good look at my own life lately, especially in regards to eating.

3. On that note, I ordered a new scale that connects to an app that then connects to my Fitbit. It provides way too much data- weight, body fat, bone weight, water weight, protein, metabolic age and more. I really only wanted it for the function to connect the weight to my phone, but man am I getting a lot of other info. I’m sure it’s not perfect, but I guess knowledge is power? Knowledge is also stopping me from snacking as I write this, too, since knowledge can also be downright sad. 

4. Last April I booked an appointment for a tattoo with Daniel Winters after seeing the one he did for Mandy Moore on Instagram (yes, I fully acknowledge this sounds ridiculous, but the look was exactly what I'd been wanting for a few years), and I sent him an email last week asking for an estimate, since you can only pay in cash. I’ve been a little nervous about the expense and  actual pain lately, so I had decided if it was over a certain amount I’d cancel. Nope. He came in way under, so I guess it's going to happen. I am also super intimidated because he seems really cool and hangs out with celebrities and here I am, a teacher from Corona. Luckily one of my dear friends is coming for moral support, so I will probably survive.

5. I started listening to the audiobook Tragedy Plus Time, a memoir by Adam Cayton-Holland. Cayton-Holland, a comedian, writes about his experiences with his little sister's struggles with mental illness and eventual suicide in a funny, yet heartbreaking way. I'm not sure if I was in the right headspace for something so sad this week, but it has still be incredibly poignant to listen to.

6. Next week Sawyer is having a speech evaluation, since there are a few sounds he’s having trouble with and that I can’t help him figure out (it’s really hard, as it turns out, to explain to a four-year-old how to make the “k” sound, for example). The teacher in me knows this age is totally acceptable for starting intervention and that the issues he's having are totally manageable (I understand 95% of what he says, as do his teachers, but that’s because we are around him so often… someday he will go to a new school with new people, though). The mom in me feels really, really guilty and that I should have stopped dragging my feet six months ago and started this earlier. His speech skills have always been a little bit behind, which I have a theory on but won’t dive into publicly (no, I am not blaming my husband, haha). No matter what the ball is rolling, right? I'll complain about the price and inconvenience later. Ha. 

7. I bought four cross stitch patterns on Etsy the other day (they’re so cheap it always feels like highway robbery) and I wonder when exactly they will get made. Three of them are Christmas ones, so I’m shooting for 2019. Or 2020. 2021 at the latest.

8. I have never been so on top of my grading before- I have been in such a good place with all my classes. That bliss is about to come to a screeching halt, though, since this week I will have 128 IB English students each turning in essays, taking a test, submitting their The Catcher in the Rye notebooks, and taking a timed write. The end of a unit of study is always like this, but it’s going to hurt even more since I’ve feeling so good about my efficiency lately. I'm already bribing myself with a pedicure for getting all that done in a semi-timely manner. 

9. I’ve actually watched a few things lately- shocking, I know. We finished season 2 of Love on Netflix, we’re almost done with the first season of The Leftovers (nothing like the book), and I watched the second Deadpool movie on Saturday. I know. I know. Four of five hours of tv watching in one week. Things are getting crazy.