poppydawn

Have you been doing the blog for awhile? I seem to remember a similar blog a few years ago, but I lost track of it. Either way, looking forward to reading what you have to say. I'm sticking this in the RSS feeder post-haste.

I like how your ma celebrates, Stooka!

Here's Mr. BnB, Clara Jane, the hounds and me, taking a post-feast constitutional:

Holiday leaf-frolicking:

After the Belleville holiday parade. Me, Clara Jane, Mr. BnB, Grandpa Chuck, Granny Viv, cousin Travis, and cousin Wendy:

Oh, there are a few people aware of Wilco where I live.

I hope you have an awesome birthday, Leigh! I'd send you a case of Noro, if I could.

Also, Robin and Brian are going. Bourbon!!

Hey-all yes!!!! :dancing :dancing :dancing

Well, so much for vows.

 

Just got tix. Sec 3 Row H seats 1-4. Nice.

You don't have to worry about two of the people near you being sticks-in-the-mud. My husband and I got Sec. 3, Row H, seats 7-8.

Parts of my body just became firm. YES!

I'm re-reading now, and I'm thinking that even the second time around, I have a hard time getting a grip on Oscar as a real person. I feel that the female characters breathe much more deeply than he does. I'm just in the section about Ana, the girl he meets in the SAT prep class, and I can picture her so clearly. But I've never had a clear picture of Oscar in my head. Anyone else feeling that?

I thought the vagueness was to make Oscar seem somewhat mystical. Even the book's title gives that feel, I think. I kept waiting for Oscar to rise up as, I don't know, some kind of savior for his family, but in the end he couldn't even save himself.

What stood out for me were the relationships; each woman ended up with men who showed them no respect (except maybe La Inca, whose marital relationship wasn't really fleshed out from what I remember)...Beli and the Gangster, Beli and the father of her children, Lola and the scuzzy beach guy, Lola and Yuni. Then you have Oscar, a new type of male character, who has low self-esteem and frequently gets called out for not showing enough machismo. He's kind of a "hyper-romantic"...falls in love at the drop of a hat, puts women on pedestals. Because of all this, he not only doesn't fit in at school/at college, but he doesn't fit in with his own family or with DR culture. Not sure where I'm going with this...I guess Oscar's isolation from family AND friends really highlights the shift between the family's roots in the DR and their new life in the US.

I didn't think about this when I read the book, but what you said just made me think of this, Elizabeth. Oscar's a dramatic shift away from the traditional DR male ideal, which makes his life miserable. But at the same time, most of the women in the book would have been spared a lot of misery if they had moved past what was socially acceptable and favored men more like Oscar. In the long run, Oscar adopts some of the more traditionally-accept behaviors with his relationship with Ybon, and it costs him his life. I'm not sure how to articulate where I'm going with this. Maybe this is all a metaphor for the struggle of immigrants to find a balance between old culture and new.

While reading the book I kept thinking that, if Oscar could socially move beyond the DR community, he would find a place where he could fit in and be "normal". That frustrated me to no end.

It's been three or four months since I read the book, so I haven't chimed in.

I spent a lot of the novel trying to figure out who was narrating. At the time it bothered me, but when it unfolded and I realized it was Yunior, it made sense. It's unusual to have a narrator who might not be 100% reliable or accurate, and I liked it. Instead of taking the narrator's word as absolute truth, I found myself considering all the other possibilities.

I loved the footnotes, even though I thought I wouldn't.

I hope you had a great birthday with lots of love from the houndies.

Cool! I missed the Champaign show because I'd just gotten home from seeing the whole band in Latrobe, PA. Def. going this time.

There's a box set of the Dolly's three bluegrass albums. I highly recommend all three of them.

I tried to talk him into buying a bottle of Buffalo Trace last night. Since it's his birthday, I guess I should have bought it for him. Oopsie. Bad wife! I did talk him into one of these:

I also didn't complain (much) about playing Ratt's "Round and Round" in Rock Band tonight. That makes up for not buying the bourbon.

$50 for an hour is damn cheap! If I ever get my tight-ass back muscles to your neck of the woods, Moontower, I might have to take advantage. Just lay off the beans, okay?

Kim and Kate have talked me into coming to Chicago tonight, but I'm on the verge of chickening out. I'm getting all maternal and don't want to leave the kid at home on such a big night. Damn ovaries.

No wait at all in my Belleville, IL, polling place. However, I went at an off time. My husband was there at 6 AM and he said it was hopping.

There are five polling places within a mile of my house, which also might play a part. I think it also helps that our neighborhood is so small that the election judges know everyone. This is my first time voting since we moved here last year. I've never had such a fast check-in in the past.

ok...that made my week!

This improved my week! Good to see you.

Now, that was fun!

I worked at a restaurant nearly 20 years ago that got busted for playing unlicensed music (tapes, I think, since the owner was too damn cheap to pay for anything). I don't know how much the laws have changed since then, but it's definitely not a new thing.

Cilantro. I could bury my face in it.

Vibes, activated!

Can I cut and paste the birthday message you posted to me the other day, Kim? It pretty much sums it up.

Happy birthday to one of my favorite people! Here's to a weekend filled with pho, Old Style, snuggles for Zooey and Jack, and good times with that boy from down south!

i'd agree. hiatt truly LOVES making the music, and i think thats why he's so enjoyable to see. we had a sing along with Memphis in the meantime. that was pretty freaking cool

*swoon* One of my favorites of his. That, and "Tennessee Plates". And "Cry Love", which also came up on last.fm yesterday.

As for Lyle, I don't think I'll ever tire of "Joshua Judges Ruth". Such a great album.

Hiatt's so awesome live. That was one of the first conerts that really blew me away, oh-so-many years ago.

I'd forgotten how much I used to like Lyle, but he happened to come up on my last.fm recommendations yesterday. Good stuff.

Aw, you people are too much! I've barely been on VC lately.

Hot.

Happy birthday to one of my absolute favorite people!!!!!!

 

For your birthday, this guy:

 

would like to take you out for many rounds of these:

 

 

 

Hotter. Hottest!

I won tickets to see Old Crow Medicine Show tonight, which is a pretty awesome way to turn 36. The only thing better would be some baby basset hound cuddles (although I was bombarded with old lady basset snuggles this morning), some pretty poppy cake, and a little Sammi Curr. My lord, I'd forgotten all about that movie!

I'll raise a Schlaflys or two or three to all you fab VCers.