The Hedonism of the Day

I got home last night and spent the evening watching "Neverwhere", a BBC television series written by Neil Gaiman. I own it on DVD and enjoy it immensely. On Friday I'd watched the season premiere of "Torchwood: Miracle Day" and that reminded me that I hadn't watched Neverwhere in a while, so I watched all six episodes yesterday and this morning (it's six thirty minute episodes).

Last night though, it was nice and cool and I curled into bed, in that warm cocoon the covers make, with the windows open and a fan slowly turning. I slept deeply and richly. When I woke this morning I was more comfortable then I remember feeling in a long time. I think it was a combination of a cool night, of clean sheets and a warm blanket, and my brain starting to spin down as it anticipates my upcoming vacation. I've got four working days until my vacation starts and I am already in count-down mode. I am going to struggle this week at work not to be to happy!

In the midst of the comfort of that night, I had an interesting dream. I dreamed I was riding a bicycle through the parking lot of a grocery store in the wee hours of the morning. I rode all the way across the parking lot only to discover the far side was blocked off by a chain link fence and I had to turn around and go back the way I had come. Except, in the dream, there was a man standing in the only way out of the fenced in area. I rode up to him and we exchanged words and, without recalling the details, in the dream I came to the conclusion that he was going to try and rob me. I habitually carry pepper-spray when I can (I can't carry it at work, so that is about the only exception). It's a habit I developed many years ago when I was a police officer and learned the value of pepper-spray in self-defense circumstances. The nature of that beast is you may go your entire life and never need your pepper-spray, but if the time and circumstances arrive where you need it - well, you are going to need it and be glad it's there. Anyway, in the dream, I dipped my hand into my jacket pocket, pulled out the canister, flipped it off safe and pepper-sprayed the guy. I then simply rode around him in the dream. But, as I left him there is in the parking lot, staggering around and whimpering, I had mercy on him. I went into the grocery store, bought a gallon of water and a roll of paper towels, and came out and helped him rinse and wipe the pepper spray off. It was about there that I woke up.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a bit of time this morning watching the last two episode of "Neverwhere" and then went out and met some of my friends for breakfast. After a good breakfast I stopped at the market, picked up a few odds and ends, and then headed home. I ran a few errands around home and then headed up to the Los Altos Art & Wine Festival, where I spent the bulk of the afternoon simply listening to music, people watching, and visiting with a friend of mine from work. It was an excellent way to spend the entire afternoon.

At the end of the day I came home, had a pair of sandwiches for dinner, watched two episodes of Mythbusters and took a long, hot, soaking bath. All in all, it was a hedonistic day, and very enjoyable. My plan tonight is to read the most recent issue of National Geographic (about Cleopatra) and spend some time with TR. The countdown to vacation is well underway!

Book Review: Shadows At Dawn

My brother recommended this to me a while ago and it seemed interesting enough that I downloaded it to my Kindle. I spent the last week or so reading it. It is a history book (non-fiction) and, from the standpoint of story-telling, I personally found it jumbled for no apparent reason other than to make it longer.

The author tells the story of the Camp Grant Massacre in Arizona from four different points of view – the American’s, the Mexican’s, and two tribal groups – the Tohono O’odham Indians on the side of the attackers and the Apache victims of the massacre. It would have been interesting except for what I considered to be technical problems – the author first establishes that he is going to write it from the four POV’s and then promptly proceeds to routinely disregard the framework he established.

The result, though interesting, in thematically jumbled.

That said, it is an interesting book and it does reveal the “intimate violence” of the frontier and has a moment or two of brilliance. I think it would have been a better book if the author had kept to his self-imposed narrative framework more rigorously because he kept representing things he had already presented (which it was lead me to the conclusion that he was padding the book). If you are unfamiliar with the Camp Grant Massacre however, it is worth a read.

On the tail of this book I have started another one that have been looking forward to – “Cleopatra, A Life” by Stacy Shiff.