So...its been a busy few days. This weekend, instead of sitting around twiddling my thumbs as can happen, I was out and about for the most part. Friday night I saw Hairspray with two friends. The movie turned out to be a good surprise. Although, I must say that while John Travolta was funny in his role, it was more of a "I'm laughing because John Travolta as a woman is ridiculous" than "I'm laughing because this movie is genuinely funny and well written." In other words, for the integrity of the play, I don't think he should have been cast in it, but forgetting anything other than the experience of the movie, it was amusing.

Saturday, one of the most gorgeous days ever, was spent with a visit to the farmer's market (more lovely flowers) and helping out with a party for Light In Winter, an organization that I am now a board member for. I was, probably by far, the youngest person at the party, but it was still mostly fun. The party was hosted at the home of two local big philanthropists and it was certainly impressive. They have a lakeview and some lakefront property, all that a girl could want. The owners also had four birds which were a delight. Ever since I've met my friend H. and her five birds, I've learned to appreciate these guys as pets. I never ever thought I'd be interested in getting a bird, but maybe someday.

And Sunday was the Grassroots festival. I never managed to locate A., but still had a fab time. Thoroughly enjoyed the set by The Duhks, the main reason I decided to head over to the fairgrounds on Sunday. The hippies were out in full force at the festival with all their long skirts, batik sundresses, bralessness, and long loose hair. Twas rather amusing.

I also managed to finish SnowCrash after the festival. It wasn't a super favorite, but it definitely was worth the read. The first sequence is really well written and throws you into the novel well, but then the novel slows down, get a little heavy handed, and mixed up chronologically for a bit. For example, Stephenson takes a while to explain what avatars are, which may have been necessary in 1992, but for me in 2007 seemed annoying. I prefer Gibson who throws you into the tech landscape and expects you to figure it out. The novel speeds up again though and gets into some interesting ideas : i.e. viruses as ideas and religions. Stephenson also makes use of an ancient Sumerian myth featuring Enki, Inanna, and others which was a thread in the Book of All Hours. I was surprised to encounter the myth again so shortly after having discovered it for the first time with Hal Duncan. I don't actually have SnowCrash with me, or I'd write a bit more, but I'm writing on my lunch break at work as my computer at home is crashing on me and I don't really feel like paying to have it fixed again!

Flowers

This weekend the parental units came for a visit, its been a few months since they were up to Ithaca, so they finally got to see Maverick on his own turf. He was his usually charming self, so I think the parents fell in love more than ever, but I made sure they didn't try to take the little guy home with them. Anyway, the weekend was a full one. We made a stop by the farmer's market where I got these:


This bouquet of loveliness (enough for two vases) cost $10. That's it! I love the farmer's market. Here are some more shots of some of the lilies in the bouquets.

After the farmer's market, my dad and I took a turn around the lake in my parent's new kayak. It's always enjoyable to be out on the water, however, I think I prefer to have my own boat than to go in tandem. I like to be able to have more control over where I am going than I do when there is someone else in the back of the boat. We paddled out past the Cornell sailboat docks and discovered that all of their little racing craft are named after the callsigns in Top Gun. There was a Maverick boat and a Goose boat and Viper and Jester and Iceman.

In the evening, we went to see Hair at the Hanger theatre. I thouroughly enjoyed the show and recommend seeing it to everyone. IY was great and the three main leads were fantastic. The theatre was turned into a theatre in the round for the performance which was quite unique.

We spent Sunday wandering around town and discovered this house :http://www.warrenhomes.com/index.cfm?action=detailed_listing&mls=123725&menu=0. Now, if only I had $350,000.

Snow Crash

So...last Friday, about halfway through the day, I began to get chills and thought I might be coming down with something. Turns out I was right and had a fever by the time I made my way home from the office at 5. Needless to say, the weekend was left largely to eating saltines and lounging around wishing it were cooler outside. I finally made an emergency emergence on Saturday for some grocery shopping to replenish my empty refridgerator. By the time Sunday rolled around, I was bored of the telly and GASP! out of things that I wanted to read! So, feeling better, I made my way to Barnes & Noble. A mistake for people trying to save some cash. But, I thought perhaps I'd browse and pick out on or two.

I left with five books. I couldn't help myself. Wandering through the ailes I came face to face with Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It's a book I've been looking for idly for about four years. Obviously I had to get that one. It's going well, although so far I prefer The Diamond Age, which I read earlier this year. I also emerged with Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett (these three were a buy two get one free deal!) and Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. This last will necessitate a complete rereading of the Dune series because I can barely remember what happened in the last few books of the series. A daunting task, considering there are six of them, but I shall prevail!