Reuse

I haven't put much thought into going green but I think this is a step forward. It's no secret I have a zoo and being individuals, they do their thing at different times. I simply cannot stand the refuse can containing excrement so I dump the bag when it is half full, sometimes even less. I know it is very wasteful but I just can't get past the psychological barrier that I want it out of the house.

Groceries used to come in free bags doubling as Ashley's hideout and free refuse bags. Then comes the plastic bag tax. I know it is a step to discourage people using plastic bags. However, it doesn't make sense to have to pay for a bag, so I bring along a large tote to bag groceries home now. With no freebies I have to resort to using more store bought garbage bags.

One morning, sitting in the kitchen sharing my soy bread with Porky, I see Camille going into the litter house to do her thing. We have just finished the last piece of bread and I have this plastic bag dangling in my hand, which I am prepared to throw away. I am poised to scoop whatever Camille has dropped off and the idea just pop that I can use the empty bread bag as a small refuse bag.

It is perfect for the job. I bag the whatever and after tying a knot I dump the small bag into the garbage can outside. I feel so frugal because I throw out full bags now, hence buying less gargage bags. Plus, it's good to know I am reusing unwanted stuff and contributing to going green.

Improvement

I am so happy when my tutor student proudly hands me his dictation workbook, 88/100!! He has failed the subject miserably the whole academic year. Although he dismisses this dictation has been way too easy, I can tell he is really pleased with his mark with that sly grin of his.

We proceed to study for his following task, where he has to memorize a paragraph and write it out in class. Facing the daunting paragraph which is actually only five sentences long, he starts to squirm in his seat and play with the cats. He keeps saying it's mission impossible and challenges me to memorize it.

I figure there is no better way to convince him it's not insurmountable than to show him if I can, he can, too. I memorize the sentences and minutes later I slam the book closed telling him I am ready. Sporting a smirk and raised eyebrows, he holds up the book and tells me to begin. As I proceed to recite the sentences, his eyes grow wider and wider. When I finish, his mouth is in the shape of an "O".

Having piqued his curiosity, I wedge my way in telling him there is a "magical" way to remember the paragraph. They are related sentences with hints you can take from the previous sentence to prompt you for the following one and so on to the end. At first he is in la la land, but after just four attempts, he totally gets it and it's 100% correct.

With a satisfied smile, he then asks me if he can watch some TV. He gets to sprawl on the sofa to catch his favorite show for twenty minutes. After a stretch he says he is off to meet his classmates for some basketball. Mission accomplished!!

The Good Wife

I am drawn to females playing pivotal roles in shows, especially those who bounce back from adversity. Basically, I like strong, independent, intelligent women, with a wry sense of humor, who are brave enough to embrace their own vulnerability. The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies is one of them.

The first season begins with Margulies as Alicia Florrick, finding out her state attorney husband has had an affair which is sensationalized by the media. Throughout the press conference, she plays the good wife, standing beside her husband Chris Noth (Mr. Big) to play down the negativity. After the conference and giving Noth a much deserved slap, she tries to pick up her life as a junior litigator and mom of two kids.

The season has just begun and the three episodes so far have been riveting with the court room drama and Margulies dealing with the aftermath of the affair, the judging and the criticisms. By the end of all twenty-three episodes, I trust that Alicia Florrick will be fully fleshed out as an endearing character. I read the second season is in production.

Margulies has won mutiple awards in TV dramas and The Good Wife is definitely a thumbs up.

Tutoring

I have taken in a 7th grade boy as my tutor student. His mom runs a congee shop in the neighborhood, which by the way the food is yummy. He is one of those clever kids who has every trick under his sleeve to do everything fun except for homework. Sound familiar?

The first lesson is English. He has to transcribe the vocabulary from a passage to his exercise book. It's done in ten minutes and he thinks the lesson is over. Right. I make him read the passage over and over again till he can pronounce every word. The witch tutor!! All along I will be whispering hints and clapping when he gets it right. I can tell with his little smile he is mighty pleased with himself.

I hear the adults have pretty much given up on him and his grades, though I think otherwise. All he needs is some form of positive reinforcement to gently coax him into thinking that school matters. Then again I believe a good character is more important than grades which happily he already exhibits. He greets everyone, runs errands for his mom and even gives Porky a free cake coupon for his birthday.

Let him be, he is only thirteen and if he makes it to college there are eleven more years of studying ahead. From what I can tell he is a good kid at heart and it's a great start.

Time

Two years into working from home, I have to hang my head and admit I have accomplished less than I initially hope for. I have read somewhere people who run home offices will be hit with this realization. At the time of the reading I have snickered it will never happen to me. Guess what? It has!! There are zillions of distractions at home and worse, I always harbor the delusion I have more time because I can work anytime I want. Right.

I just end up procrastinating more often. The only time when there is any sense of urgency is when a deadline is staring me at the face. I'd pull all nighters to get it done which ultimately compromises the quality. Suffice to say I am not too happy with it.

I have also come to realize that more freedom equals more discipline. When I don't have to clock in time like at the office, I slack. The all time excuse being I am waiting for my muse to inspire me. Yeah, right. It's true that sometimes I get stuck on a phrase or an idea and it takes some mental construction to see how it pans out. However, more often than not, these are purely excuses and proof that I am not pushing myself hard enough because I believe there is still time.

It's a good thing I am aware of it before I lose any work so it's high time to kick the habit of procrastinating and more importantly, to have a correct perspective of time. Time is too precious to waste.

The Dante Club

Read early last year, riveting to the end, a definite page turner


Just finished, dimmed by a loose plot, slow tempo and extraneous detail


Yet to read

I just finish reading The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. I have high hopes for this Poe tale after reading Pearl's debut novel The Dante Club last year. It is such an engrossing read. The lingering magic of the book has sparked my interest in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, especially how the book is parallelled against it. I have read its entirety, the Paradiso, Purgatorio and Inferno.

The Poe Shadow on the other hand has been quite disappointing. I guess the most difficult endeavor for every writer is to live up to the expectations of an earlier success. The Dante Club has been a sensation, so much so the best selling author Dan Brown is cited on the book cover touting "Matthew Pearl is the new shining star of literary fiction...with an immense gift for intricate plots."

The Poe Shadow attempts to solve the mystery surrounding Edgar Allan Poe's death and his last days leading up to it. The fictional character Quentin Clark is an attorney consumed with a desire to pursue the truth of Poe's demise in order to vindicate the slanderous rumors that Poe has died a delirious drunkard. Clark's belief that Poe has modeled the crime solving genius C. Auguste Dupin after a true person takes him to Paris to find the elusive character in Poe's tales.

The story is circuitous with two supposed Dupins going round and round with hypothetical conjectures and Clark endlessly combing through newspaper articles with any mentioning of Poe. This onslaught of facts, dates, places and details makes you wonder where it is heading. Meticulous research has gone behind it but the facts are just too crowded, slowing the tempo of the whole work. The Poe Tale is at best a narration of facts which has neglected the most compelling element of a novel, that of storytelling.

As for The Dante Club the plot structure and tempo is akin to The Da Vinci Code. The story follows a chain of murders mirroring punishments in Hell depicted in Dante's Inferno. Set in nineteenth century Boston, the Dante Club is made up of a circle of famous scholars, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russel Lowell and J.T. Fields.

The success of the book lies in Pearl's ability to flesh up every character, both real and fictional. As opposed to the factual narration in Poe's tale, this is story telling. The urgency to solve the murders is matched with the furious obsession of Longfellow and the Club members to translate the Inferno. The tightness of the plot compels you to piece the puzzle alongside the characters, eavesdropping in Longfellow's study for hunches and clues.

Fictions based on historical facts and real characters are extremely challenging where a fine balance hangs between research and imagination. It behoves to remember that with novels, readers are looking for a good story rather than pure research.

Online Shopping

This is an Agnes b. card purse I have bought online. I have never purchased anything except books online because of my suspicions that I might be cheated. How ironic when I have an online website for my cards!!

I decide to try it out at a local auction site and after looking through dozens of pages I am utterly frustrated. Whoever says shopping is a great past time is definitely wrong here. I simply want a card purse, how hard can that be? I choose the vendor with the highest ratings, confident that I have a found a bargain.

It's only a day's wait. I open the package and pat myself on the back for being such a savvy shopper. I decide to show off my prize to the expert online shopper at the cafe. Big mistake. I have bought the purse for double the price she has paid for exactly the same piece!! Thunderstruck, I ask her isn't this the price you tell me couple days ago? With one hand on her hip, she says, "it's for two, stupid". Dang!!

The vendor has given me an A+++ shopper rating, an A+++ idiot to be precise. I have reciprocated the rating upon receiving my package. I am now surrounded by advisers who console me there is a first with everything, that everyone makes mistakes and practice makes perfect. Gee!! How much do I have to waste and pay for a lesson well learnt and that lesson is shopping??? I am right in being wary about online shopping, it's not for idiots like moi. Sigh.

I love my purse though!!